A Christmas With The Poynters
by grei-eba
Summary: COMPLETE- Dougie knows that his family is the reason why his past few girlfriends ran away from him. When he finally meets THE one for him and she forces him to introduce her to his family, will she run away too after the most disastrous Christmas ever?
1. The Arrival

**Enjoy and review. This is going to be a short story.**

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Dougie took a deep, _very_ deep breath as he tried to let go some of his anxiety, but it didn't work, as he'd been expecting. Stephanie squeezed his hand and smiled at him while they waited for someone to open the door. They could hear people inside.

"Relax" she told him, the situation and expression on the her boyfriend's face was extremely funny to her.

"We can still go home, you know?" Dougie said "Tom and Giovanna are throwing a big party, we were invited..."

"I already told them we're not going. We _are_ spending Christmas here, Dougie"

"Do we _have_ to? Is it _extremely _necessary?"

"You know I've never had a normal Christmas with all the presents and a big family; don't take this away from me"

"Now, _that's_ not fair" she giggled, knowing he was right, and he looked at her nervously "_Please?_"

"You already know we're staying, so stop it. Suck it up"

"It's worth trying..." he mumbled.

He took another deep breath and finally sighed, defeated; there was no way out of this, they were spending Christmas with his family and there was nothing he could say or do to change her mind, even though he'd tried so hard, he'd tried _everything_; begging, pretending to be mad, pretending to be hurt, asking Tom to throw a Christmas party, saying he was busy on Christmas for a TV show with the band -he eventually felt guilty about lying and ended up telling her they had cancelled it-, pretending to feel sick, and the list goes on and on... But no, Steph wanted to meet Dougie's family and have a normal Christmas.

'_A __disastrous Christmas_' he thought once more. No one had opened the door yet and he was seriously thinking about just running to the car and leaving her there. He was seriously worried about this; this wasn't the first time he introduced a girl to his family... And those girls weren't his girlfriend anymore, were they?

Dougie squeezed her hand and looked at her face, her gorgeous face; grey eyes, kind of rather round face, brown but very light hair, perfect eyebrows, awesome legs, cute smile... '_Oh, God, please don't let this turn out horribly, please... Let me keep _this one_ at least!_'

"Why, oh, _why_ won't you introduce me to them!?" she'd told him weeks ago when they recieved a letter from Dougie's mum; an invitation to a Christmas party on her house. Of course she could have simply called, but she liked sending those silly letters on Christmas. Steph had found it before Dougie could hide it -or _burn_ it- and decided that this was it; they'd been together for 2 years and she did not know them! How could that be allowed? "Are you afraid of introducing me to them? Is that it? You've never introduced me to them, you've always made up such silly excuses. You think I'm going to embarrass you, don't you?"

"No, of course I'm not, babe! _They_ are going to embarrass me! Drop it, Steph, babe, we're not going"

"Hell yeah, we are! I'm going on my own if you're not coming with me"

"You don't even know the address!"

She'd sighed, crossed her arms and sat in the couch.

"_Fine_" she'd told him in an agressive tone. They stayed in silence for a while. He knew it wasn't fine and he wouldn't bear having her mad at him.

"Oh, come on!" he said after a moment, falling on his knees by her side "Don't do this to me and, believe me, you don't want to meet them"

"I do, Dougie, I _do_!" she changed her tone now, it was a bit softer now "Please... It's important to me"

'_Oh, yeah, sure_' he'd thought '_, just 'caused she never met her father and she'd seen her mum drunk since kind of the very first day she could remember, it doesn't mean she can be a part of my family; my family sucks!'_

"Honey, they are not the type of family that it's all crazy but in the end you really love them 'cause we're so loyal to each other and we've been through a lot together. No, they are _just_ crazy, forget about the rest. Just crazy, got it?" he'd told her in a desperate try to change her mind_._

"I've had enough of crazy, they'll look rather dull next to my... mother" she hated calling her mother, Stephanie had never felt like she deserved to be called that way_, _she'd never been a _real_ mum. In many ways, she'd always felt like an orphan and she even told some people she'd been raised without parents "We _are_ going, Dougie"

And there they were now, in front of the door. As Dougie's mum opened it, Stephanie smiled from ear to ear as Dougie's heart started beating faster.

"I love you" he whispered before Sam, Doug's mum, had fully opened the door. He was really scared that his family would drive another of his girlfriends mad and make her run away. It had happened before, it could happen now.

She turnd her head and looked at him, slightly surprised that he'd finally stopped been so negative about these holidays, but she was actually wrong, she had no idea what was going through his mind.

"As I do too" she whispered back.

"Welcome home, Dougie, darling!" Sam said, smiling as eargerly as Steph. Sam put both her arms around her son and kissed his cheek "Oh, baby, you're even taller than the last time I saw you"

"Oh, _please_, mom..." he said; yeah, right, like he would _ever_ be taller, he'd given up that dream years ago.

"This pretty lady must be Stephanie, isn't she?" Sam said, still smiling, as she looked at her son's girlfriend.

"Nice to finally meet you" Steph said. She turned her head again to smile at her and let go Dougie's hand to shake Sam's.

Doug sighed again; this is like it had begun before... He would pray every night so this Christmas with the Poynters wouldn't end as bad as the others.


	2. Nothing As Cute As A Grandma

**Enjoy and review.**

**The names of Doug's uncles, cousins, sister, stepfather, stepsister, mother and aunt (not Daniel's wife, but Sam's sister) are actually real, but I did not know the names of his grandmother and aunt (that would be Daniel's wife), so I just made them up, ok?  
**

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**Dougie's POV**

"Did you have a nice journey? The weather's awful, I was so worried, baby" trust my mum to be worried about_ everything_. And, Jesus, did she _have_ to call me baby in front of Stephanie?

"Mum, it's not even raining" I said as I took off my coat, took Steph's too and put them in the clothes stand **[a/n: first time I ever use that word, is it acually used like that?]**

"It could have rained! And you know how dangerous the road gets then" she sighed, stressed, and Steph repressed a smile.

"Jeez, mum, relax" I said, touching her shoulder gently once and then grabbed my babe's hand again "So... How's here?" I need to be ready for whatever may come.

"Jazzie, obviously, and uncle Dan's little crew. Oh, and your grandma"

"Grandma's already here?" I tried to make my smile seem honest.

'_Oh, God_' I thought as I swallowed '_I thought she was coming later!_' Steph squeezed my hand.

"Would you like to meet them, darling?" mum asked, smiling with excitement at her.

"I'd love to" she said, her behaviour just perfect. I was so nervous I thought I was going to pee my own pants.

We walked towards the living room, where most of my relatives were. My sister Jazzie was curled up on the couch, her eyes on the TV, just as uncle Daniel. Aunt Ivy was reading 'Pride and Prejudice' _again_. Every single time I see her, she's got that book on her hands. Their kids had to be upstairs cause the roof was trembling. Those little monster were surely something to worry about, and soon more would arrive when my aunt Caroline arrives too. I would have to sleep with one eye opened, I could almost already see them making plans for new not-funny-at-all jokes.

Jazz was wearing simple jeans and a plain black shirt, casual clothes, unlike uncl Daniel, who _always _wears suits. Ivy is a really sweet person -too sweet to control her children, I believe-, very simple, she was just wearing a light cream dress, her shoes on the wooden floor.

I couldn't find grandmam that made me nervous.

"Hey, everyone" mum said and my three relatives turned their heads on our way "Dougie and his girlfriend, have finally arrived"

"Hi, I'm Stephanie" my babe said as she smiled shyly. She looked so damn cute when she got shy.

"Hi, welcome!" my aunt said. You could say she was the 'normal' one between all of my relatives "It's so good you kids could make it" she stood up and hugged me, then hugged Steph before I could stop her; my girl doesn't like it too much when people who aren't close to her touch her. Steph just took a deep breath. I've never asked her why she does't like it, I just guessed it all goes back to some dark story from her time with her mother. I wasn't ever going to ask, I knew that wouldn't be a nice conversation "I'm Ivy, that one over there is my husband Daniel"

Uncle Dan smiled at her and waved from his place in the couch. She did the same as she innocently leaned away from my aunt.

"And she's Jazzie, my sister" I said. I gave Jazz a warning look; my sister always gets kind of jealous about me bringing girls home. We were really close when we were kids and I lived here, I guess it's kind of hard for her to see me intimate with a girl.

"Dougie's talked a lot about you" Steph said friendly.

"Oh, yeah?" my sis said from the couch "That's nice. He's barely talked about you, though"

Awkward silence. She met my eyes and smiled. Evil! She's _evil_!

"Well," I said without meeting Steph's eyes "that's just cause I didn't want you all to start asking a thousand questions. You know, some privacy..."

"That's very understandable" aunt Ivy said. God bless her.

"So... Where's grandma?" I asked, nervously looking around again.

"Bathroom" my uncle said.

"She's been there for like half an hour" Jazzie said "_That's_ one place you don't wanna visit after she comes out"

"Jazzie, please!" mum said a bit annoyed "We've got visits"

"Oh, well" she got up and put an arm around Steph's shoulder, an evil look on her eyes. My babe just held my hand even more tightly "She's almost family, isn't she? I mean, two years! That's a well kept secret, bro"

"Actually, Jazz, Stephanie really doesn't like it when people have too much physical contact with her, so could you please back down a little bit?" I said and Jazz removed her arm from Steph's shoulder.

"Oh, sorry" she said.

"No, it's fine" Steph blushed.

"So how do you guys have sex then?" Jazz asked "No, wait, I don't want to you about your sex life"

'_Oh, dear God..._' I thought, I could die of embarrassment. I heard uncle Dan giggle, but stopped himself quickly. Just when I was about to tell her she'd been completely out of place, grandma walked in. She's a small woman with blue eyes, fake blond hair and oldfashion clothes that cover her body completely. Seriously, _completely_, all of it, you can't see anything but her hands and head.

"Sex?" she said in her loud voice "Who's talking about sex?"

"Jazzie" I said quickly, knowing that there was a huge chance my sister would try to blame me. Grandma's kind of deaf, she would never be able to tell the different between my voice and Jazz's voice, but for some reason, if you're talking about sex, she will hear you and give you a long speech.

"Oh, dear, what are we going to do with you?" grandma put a hand on Jazz's shoulder and moved her head from side to side disapprovingly "Kids these days have and talk about sex like they watch that dull tv thing. It's so wrong, _so_ wrong..."

"Yes, grandma" Jazzie and I said at the same time as my mum and uncle said "yes, mum" and aunt Ivy said "totally right, Louisa" I could tell Stephanie was about to laugh and prayed that she didn't or we would be hearing one of grandma's speech all day long.

"Now, I don't think we've been introduced" grandma looked at Steph.

"I'm Stephanie, Dougie's girlfriend"

"Are you two living in sin?"

Oh, Jesus, will she _never _stop asking me that!?

"I'm... I'm sorry?" Steph said confused as Jazzie covered her mouth before a giggle could escape her mouth.

"No, grandma, of course not, how could you ever think that?" I lied.

Jazzie ran out the room, up the stairs, and I'm pretty sure she's now laughing in her room.

"Good, darling, good, it'd be a shame if you burned in hell" she said.

Oh, dear God...

Steph gave me a very confused look.

"I'll explain later" I mumbled, then turned to the others "We'll so settle down, if you excuse us"

"Ok, baby" mum said. There's the baby word again! "Dinner will be ready at 8. Moo and Dean are coming tomorrow"

"Kids too?" I said, a bit of hope in my chest. Maybe they had to stay for some reason. _Any_ reason!

"Of course!" she said.

Crap. Crap, crap, _crap_. I'm seriously not surviving this Christmas.

"Ok, great" I smiled and hold on to Steph's hand, then started leading her up the stairs.

"What was all the sin and hell thing?" she whispered to me, still confused.

I sighed. I _knew_ she wasn't ready for this, I should have explained her everything before. Now I would have to tell her all about my family in just a few minutes.

"There are some things you need to know, baby"


	3. Can't Scare Me Away

**Finally the most crappy week ever has come to an end! Don't you just love the feeling you get when you know that you're going to sleep a lot on Saturday morning? I do. And if anyone dares waking me up...**

**Enjoy and review.**

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I closed the door of my old room and turned around to see Steph laying on my bed. It's not a bed that was designed for two people, but it's not as small as a regular bed for person either, so we would be alright. She was looking around the small bedroom, checking the posters in the wall -I'd forgotten I had so many of Blink 182-, the furnitures (which only consisted of my small wardrobe, a desk and a chair, plus the bed, obviously), the sheets of the bed, etc...

"Nice room" she said.

"Thanks"

Stephanie's studying architecture and she loved old houses, like mine, so she must be enjoying being here so far. I'm paying for her college scholarship, it was a present for out first aniversary. She had been saving for so long to be able to pay it but the price was too high, so I'm paying it for her. She'd promised to give me back all my money, but I've got no intentions to recieve any money frm her, I'm happy to see her studying and she's happy too. Money, as we all know, is not a problem for me.

"So, the sin thing..." she said, her hands behind her head. She looked so sexy it took me a minute to focus again.

"My grandmother is very old-fashion. Remember I told you not to bring short skirts? She'd go nuts"

"Dougie, it's _winter_, why_ would_ I wear a short skirt?"

"_Anyway_... If she found out we've had sex before getting married..." I sighed, picturing her reaction on my mind "She'd probably kick us out"

"Oh, really?" she said as she smiled "That's a shame 'cause I have a very special Christmas present for you..."

It was like the heat went up a hundred degrees in one second. Usually, I'd follow her game and ask her what the present was, but I didn't, not as long as we were in this house.

"Don't do that to me, you know I'm weak" she laughed and I sat in the bed just a few inches away from her, just in case "And I'm serious about my grandmother, she usually comes in to check on me at night, she comes in and out every ten minutes or so for like two hours"

"Honey, I think we can handle a couple of days without sex, we'll survive"

"Speak for yourself" we smiled at each other and she slapped me gently in the back of my head.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"My mum overreacts about everything so never give her bad news, ok? My sister will try to find an evil double meaning to everything you say so think about what you're going to say from every possible angle before you actually say something. My uncle's a douche, never talk about war, politics, economy or inmigrants with him."

"Does he know I was born in France?"

"No and he doesn't need to know either. My aunt Ivy's pretty much normal. The kids though... Steph, babe, stay away from them"

She giggled.

"You should see your face" she said.

"I'm serious! They are evil, so _so_ evil! If Lucifer and, I don't know, that girl from The Exorcist, had children, it would be _them_! Then there's aunt Moo and uncle Dean. This is, they've splir up but grandma, aunt Ivy and my uncle don't know ok? Turns out Dean's gay."

Steph made an 'o' with her mouth and I nodded.

"Grandma would die if she found out and my uncle... I just don't think he'd take it too well. They also don't want people to know so they won't make such a big deal out of it, for their kids' sake"

"I won't say a thing, I promise"

"I know, I know... Anyway, our neighbours are coming too. They've got kids too and they have the special hability to be very annoying"

"Aren't you being a little too dramatic?" she kissed my cheek and moved her hands over my shoulders in a very pleasant way. I closed my eyes and sighed.

"I just don't want you to feel uncomfortable here, Steph"

"I'm alright, I can handle it" she whispered in my ear softly, then kissed my neck. Oh, Jesus Christ, we're a hundred degrees higher now.

The door opened and grandma came in. I jumped to my feet in that very moment and Steph fell backwards and into the floor.

"Oh, God, Stephanie!" I said as I knelt down and helped her up, my cheeks going red "I'm so sorry!"

"It's ok" she said, a bit stunned.

"Dear, what a terrible balance you have" my grandma said. Oh, thank God, she didn't saw us...

"Yes, _balance_" Steph said.

"Grandma, make sure you nock next time"

"What for?"

"Well, because... We're a couple and couples need some privacy"

"Oh, rubbish, dear. Don't be silly, only married people need some privacy"

I sighed; this was a battle I wouldn't ever win.

"Is there anything you need?" I said at last.

"I was just curious..." she turned to Steph "What's your religion, Stephanie?"

"Actually, I don't believe in God or anything like that, so no religion for me I guess"

I watched grandma carefully for a minute, ready to catch her if she fainted. Dammit, I forgot Stephanie's not into religion; she once told me she could never be able to believe in God after everything that ever happened to her. We never touched the subject again. I, and I could tell so did she, rather not talk about her past.

Grandma opened her eyes a lot for a moment, then nodded, kind of like in shock.

"May God have mercy on your soul, child" she said before turning around and living.

To me relief, instead of feeling irritated or insulted like other girls did, she giggled.

"She's funny" she said.

"_Funny?_" I looked down at her; finally a girlfriend smaller than me, at least for a few inches "How can she ever be categorized as _funny_?"

"Like I said..." she said as she put her arms around my neck "You're too dramatic. I'm tougher than you think. I just need a few instructions, but I'll be fine, ok? Do you trust me?"

"Of course"

"Then relax! The Poynters can't scare me away"


	4. Family Dinner

**So... I did like crap on my exam on Friday, now I've got 15 pages to study for _this_ Friday which sucks and I know I'm late -and I'm sorry for that-.**

**BUT nothing matters... Cause I'm so in love right now... So so so in love...  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

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We walked down holding hands, mum had announced dinner was finally ready. Everyone stared at our hands once as soon as we walked in the dinning room. We sat next to each other -of course-, I pulled out the chair for her and Jazz rolled her eyes. I grinned at her childish behaviour.

Mum sat in one edge of the rectangular, huge, wooden table, grandma in the other one. My father had made this table when I was a kid for special ocassion such as this, so we would all fit, so it was a pretty big table. Aunt Ivy was sitting by my side, my cousin of 7 years old George next to her, then Jazzie was right in front of Steph, my cousin Leah, of five, next to her, then uncle Daniel by her other side. Believe it or not, there were a few sits left that we would need later for my other relatives.

"Steph..." mum said a bit shyly "Grandma told me you doesn't share our believes..."

"That's right" Stephanie said politely.

"I wonder if you would join us and say grace anyway..."

"Of course" Steph smiled at her and mum smiled back. Well, at least they would get on just well.

Everyone reach out for their neighbour's hands and closed their eyes; mum grabbed Steph's and she held mine. I quickly kissed her in the cheek lightly when nobody was looking.

"For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful. Amen." grandma spoke alone.

"Amen" the rest of us followed her, including Steph.

We all started passing bowls with food, Stephanie staring at us with fascination; this had to be the first real family dinner she ever had. It kind of broke my heart and it made me feel a bit stupid; this was all she ever wished for and all I disliked.

"Babe, do you want potatoes?" I offered her. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Sure" she said.

"So, _Steph_..." Jazzie said and I looked up at her, giving her a warning look. Oh, Lord, if you are there, pleast do not let her ruin Steph's first family dinner "Why weren't you lucky enough to find somebody else?"

"What do you mean?" my girl asked confused "Dougie's a perfect match"

My relatives giggled a little bit and I felt slightly hurt, though I kind of saw it coming anyway. Grandma didn't even react.

"If by 'perfect match' you mean he's got loads of money, then yes, he _is_" Jazz said as she raised an eyebrow.

Steph's cheek_a_ flamed with embarrassment "No, I didn't mean that at all"

"She was just joking, of course nobody thinks that" I quickly said as I put an arm around her shoulder, then looked meaningfully at my evil sister "_Right_, Jazz?"

"Right" she said with way too much enthusiasm to sound convincing.

"So, again, how come a girl like you didn't find someone more... Relievable?" uncle Daniel said, apparently choosing his words carefully. Ok, so I _did_ cheat on my first girlfriend, but in my defense I was 15 and my hormones ruled my body "We gotta make you you're not after his money, as his family we have to protect him"

"I dont need to be protected" I said annoyed, but everyone ignored me.

"Well," Steph turned to face me and smiled, sweetness in her eyes "like I said, he's a perfect match; talented, handsome, sweet..."

Jazzie giggled and inmediately covered her mouth with her hand. She's lucky looks can't kill.

"What?" Steph asked confused again.

"_Mr Fart_ is sweet? she said "Yeah, _right_"

I looked down at my plate as my cheeks turned red. I am so going to murder my sister... How could she say that?

"Jazz, mind your languague" mum said.

"Fart is not a bad word" Jazzie said and my little cousins laughed.

"_Jazzie!_"

"Ok,mum" she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"How did you two meet?" aunt Ivy said. We're going to be the subject of the whole dinner.

"In a bar" Steph and I said at the same time.

"Oh, so you like to party, huh? Are you wild?" Jazzie asked her and grandma looked up a bit horrified, waiting for the answer. Never use the word wild in front of her... Jazzie still has some things to learn about her...

"Hum, I wouldn't say so, no..." my baby said as she cut a piece of beef.

"So you're dull?"

"I have a balance" Steph smiled friendly at her and Jazz just nodded. Well, that's the most polite she can be I guess.

"Do you study?" uncle Dan asked.

"You may aswell ask her about her ID number" I mumbled and I know Stephanie heard me, but chose to ignore me as she does most times with I complain.

"Yes, I do, architecture" all my relatives seem surprised for a moment and I was proud of my honey again.

"She's doing great, she's awesome" I said and Steph blushed.

"How would _you _know? You don't know a thing about architecture" Jazzie said with an evil smile, but I ignored her. Hey, if people can ignore _me_, I can ignore them too, right?

"When I was young, women used to stay at home to raise their kids, it was men who had to study and work" grandma said "That's how it should still be, now the world's falling apart"

I peeked at Steph from the corner of my eye and waited for the worst; I know her enough to know that, though she doesn't get involved with the subject, she's into all that stuff related to women's rights and she wasn't going to like or approve any of the things my grandma ever said. But she was perfectly calm, looking down at her food.

"And there was no such thing as living in sin like there is now" Oh, God, here we go again... "Dougie, my boy, I'm so proud of you for keeping yourself pure until marriage"

Jazzie closed her eyes to concentrate and avoy laughing, my cousins seemed lost -they obviously didn't understand this particular subject-, and the rest tried to look innocent.

"Sure, grandma, thanks..." I said, then put a piece of beed on my mouth.

"Talking about marriage..." grand said "Should we be expecting any plans for a wedding soon?"

Everybody dropped their forks and knives and waited anxiously but quietly for the answer. I looked up at Stephanie, she was still looking down and blushing slightly. She truly looked like an angel.

"No, not at all" she said.

Her answered surprised me; what's up with the _'not at all'_ part? Ok, yeah, she's dating _me_, I know, but I've got surprises too! Like the ring I bought for her as soon as she asked me to introduced her to my family, in a day of pure crazyness when I'd thought that was it, when I had believed I would lose her. I still remember buying the ring with Tom -he helped me to chose one, I don't know a thing about rings-, it was an old and expensive ring, but it was worth it... And I didn't propose to her, but I still had the ring and I was still just thinking about it... It's just that I'm sick of dating and Steph and I are really in love... If she survives this Christmas with my family, then I'll know she's _the_ one. _Or_ if she's about to run away after she admits I was right all along about my mad family, I can also ask her and maybe I'll get a chance to keep this wonderful woman with me. Forever.

Our eyes met for a moment and I just smiled, it was all I could do while I thought of the ring laying upstairs, hidden between my clothes.

She had no idea how wrong she was.


	5. Bed Time

**I know, I know, I'm freaking late! But I am here and my week of crazy exams has finished. A thousand times sorry and now let's go on...**

**Last night I went out with my mates and when I was coming home in my mate's car with another dude, which one of my girl friends has a crush on, asked me out to the movies for next weekend. I looked up at him and thought: oh, fuck. I said yes but I made sure we understood all of our mates were coming. How about that? God, I hope he doesn't think I'm encouraging him...  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

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**I took off my black sweater and white shirt, and threw them to the little chair, then took my shoes off, run my fringers through my hair and laid in bed. I took a deep breath, then let it all out.

"Well..." I said out loud "We survived the first dinner..."

Stephanie opened the door and came in as she dried her hair with a towel. She was smiling.

"How was the shower?" I asked randomly.

"Delicious" she said "Now's time for bed" she laid doen next to me, already on her pejamas.

I put my arms around her and she rested her head on my chest. We stayed like that for a while, the lights still on.

"Can I ask you something and you promise not to missunderstand me or freak out?" I asked.

"Dougie, for the last time, we're not leaving" she said.

"I wasn't going to say that!"

"Oh" she looked up and smiled "Sorry"

"I was wondering..." I blushed and thought carefully of the words I should use so I wouldn't give her too much information "Something you said at dinner just made me wonder one thing... Are you into marriage at all? I mean, would you like to get married... With me... Some day?"

She waited to answer. That's a bad sign, isn't it? Aren't women supposed to get all loud and excited with this subject? Don't they kind of start planning it every night when they go to sleep since they're 5 or something?

"I suppose so. I've not thought about it too much for you own sake"

"_My_ sake?" I said confused.

"It took you three months to officially call me your girlfriend and four to say you loved me" she explained with a smile on her face "You don't commit that easily, so I don't want to put any pressure on your or rush you with my fantasies"

"Oh, ok" I said, though I didn't understand a thing; did she or didn't she want to get married? That '_I suppose so_' wasn't very convincing to me "Hey, just so you know, I do want to marry you. You know, some day..."

"Oh" she smiled "I'm glad to know that"

She kissed my cheek, then made her way to my lips. She was warm and soft, not to mention she smelled amazing. Before I realized it, the kissed got more and more passionate, her hands caressing my chest while mine were under her shirt, caressing her back, pressing her body even closer to me that it already was. Soon I rollsed in the bed and got on top of her, and was about to lose it when I heard slow foorsteps coming from the stairs.

I broke the kiss and sighed. Steph leaned up and kissed me again.

"Wait, babe" I said, breathing heavily, trying to stop her and myself "Grandma"

"Oh..." she said, her voice slightly disappointed, and stopped trying to kiss me again. Thank God, I wouldn't be able to stop her again "Right"

I stood up and sat in the chair for a moment as she ran hr fingers through her hair and sat in the bed.

"This sucks" I said.

"It's not that bad" she said "I'll make it up to you at home"

"That doesn't really help, honey. I'll be having pictures in my head until we come back"

She threw me a pillow which I caught easily.

"You pervert!"

Grandma opened the door just a minute later, stare at the two of us for a moment, then smiled at us as she closed the door.

"That's it?" Steph whispered.

"Yes. She'll come back in a couple of minutes, so let's just safe some time for the old lady and go to sleep"

"Ok" she pulled the cover her as I took off my jeans, then joined her in bed. She put her arms around me and I rested my hear on her shoulder. I should be a man and she should be sleeping in my arms, but I just loved feeling loved by her.

"Today's dinner was great" she said.

"If _my_ family seems great to you, then Tom's must be _angels_"

"I dont care about Tom, _you're_ my boyfriend and I love _you_" she sighed "Look, it's the first time I felt like I was home-"

"_We_ have a _home_, remember?" I said.

"I know, baby, I meant a home with a family"

"You were _comfortable_?" I asked skeptically.

"I told you I'm tough. They _are_ kind of weird, I'll give you that much. But I can really see how much they love you and hope one day I'll be a part of that too"

"Well, I wish they loved me less"

"I wish my mother had loved me the way your mum loves you"

Now I felt bad. We didn't talk about this subject very foten, but I knew her feeling towards it, I knew how much it all still hurt her, though she hadn't seen her mother in years, as far as I knew. I wish things were different for her, I hated seeing her like this.

"Hey..." I whispered softly in her ear "_I_ love you. So, _so _much"

"I know. That's enough for me"


	6. Nice To Meet You

**I've got a new computers -though I've got to share it with my older brother- and it runs so fast I barely have time to think hahaha It's awesome.**

**I'm very ashamed about the delay, there's no excuse for it but I just want you to know that it wasn't intentional.  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

I woke up warm and comfortable. I rolled over and hugged the pillow. God, I love sleeping... I had the weirdest dream though... We were on tour and-

My eyes flew open and I stood up in a blink, maybe too fast cause everything got dizzy and my head hurt, forcing me to close me eyes. I stumbled with the sheets and fell to the floor, hitting my face against it.

"Oh, God..." I gasped.

I looked around; I was alone.

"Stephanie?" I asked out loud. How stupid, she already wasn't in the room.

I ran out of the bedroom, the ran back in and put on my jeans in a rush.

Oh, Jesus! Did she want me to have a heart attack?

"Steph!" I asked as I ran down the stairs.

Leah and George were in the couch, watching the TV. Their mum had dressed them again so they would match, both of them with red woolen sweaters with shapes of Christmas trees. Our eyes met.

"Hi" I said. They smiled. They are pure evil, even when they _look_ like they are doing nothing... But inside those two little head, master evil plans are being developed.

"Hi" they both said in the childish voices. That's the only thing that makes them a bit innocent, their voices.

"Have you seen Stephanie?" I asked.

They shoke their heads. I just nodded and made my way to the kitchen. Mum was there, cooking today's lunch, humming her favorite song though she doesn't even know its name.

"Hey, mum" I said, trying not to look alert or she would freak out "Have you seen Stephanie?"

"No, not really darling. Why?" she turned around and I could see right there the alarm I woke up inside her "Did she get lost? Did you two have a fight?"

"No, mum, it's just... We're playing hide and seek"

"Then, baby, you can't ask me, that would be cheating!"

I started at her for a moment, not truly believing she actually bought that. Now I see why I am not so smart...

"_Right_, mum... Thanks anyway, I'll keep looking"

I got desperate and ran up the stairs again. I grabbed my mobile phone from the desk and dialed Steph's number. Her mobile phone started beeping, it was right there laying in the desk.

"Oh, crap" I said. I grabbed her phone and stared at it for a moment, trying to think where the hell she could be, when she just opened the door and came in.

"How many times have I told you that it bothers the hell out of me when you spy on my mobile phone?" she said, racing an eyebrow, her hands on her hips "You should already know I've got _nothing_ to hide"

I put the phone down while I blushed.

"I wasn't spying on your phone, I swear. I was trying to find you. Where were you!"

"Oh, honey" she said, a strange look in her eyes, then she spoke with clear sarcasm "I'm sorry I forgot to ask permission to go the the bathroom"

"Oh..." I blushed even more, feeling so so stupid "No, that's ok. Sorry..."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone, then put it in her bag.

"I don't like you being like this, Dougie. You're so paranoid here" she said.

I hugged her from behind and sighed.

"I know, I'm sorry... I just hate waking up without you" I said.

"But there's no need to call the army over that, honey"

I giggled "Oh, babe, you'd be worth it"

She tried not to laugh, but I knew her better. I kissed her cheek and Steph smiled. I felt that warm feeling inside my chest I always feel when she smiles in this particular way and knew that asking her to marry me was the right thing to do. I felt kind of weird knowing that the ring, Steph and I were in the same room. I just needed to find the perfect timing... I was thinking about Christmas dinner, that would be a romantic thing to do, but I felt nervous as I picture myself doing it in front of all my crazy relatives. What would _they_ say? I didn't even want to imagine the look on Jazzie's eyes.

"Promise me you'll try to relax, Dougie" Stephanie said as she turned aorund to look at me into my eyes.

"Hum..." I hesitated. I've never broken any promise I've made her "I promise I'll try"

She rolled her eyes again but kissed me once quickly.

"Come on, get dress. I'll be downstairs, I have to study"

"When's the exam?"

"I told you like three times"

"I suck at remembering numbers"

"No kidding..." she smiled a bit "It's the 1st of January"

"They shouldn't be allow to do that. What if somebody arrives drunk? You know, from celebrating"

"Well, they can so I've got to study for it. There's so much I haven't read yet" she sighed and moved her fingers nervously unconciously. I caressed her cheek and smiled.

"Now who's got to relax?"

"Hey, this _is _a big deal. It's very important that I pass this exam, Dougie"

"You'll do great, you always do"

She smiled with sweetness and I leaned down to kiss her.

Just around thirty seconds passed when grandma opened the door. Perfect timing. I leaned away from Stephanie quickly and blushed. Grandma stared at me for a moment, probably thinking I wasn't wearing enough clothes as she considered appropiate.

"Good morning" Stephanie said both politely and friendly "Did you sleep well?"

"Perfectly, dear." grandma said. Oh, yes, be nice, be nice... "Dougie, your mother says we're eating in about an hour"

"Ok, thanks"

She hesitated a moment "Boy, get some clothes on. Don't let God think you're living in sin"

"Sure" I said. Steph rested her face against my back, probably trying to not laugh "It's not funny!" I said when grandma left.

She smiled from ear to ear "I'll just wait for you downstairs"

Steph grabbed her books from her bag; two thick, old books that only God knows how the hell she's going to manage to learn all for the 1st of January. I'm so gratefull for being in a successful band cause other wise I would never be able to do what she does. I like that from her, that we're different in some things; she's smart, _everyone_ knows I'm _not_. She's so clever it makes me proud to talk about her with other people.

"Oh, babe" I said before she opened the door and left. She turned her head around "Be careful, ok? The kids are downstairs"

"Ok, I'll meke sure they don't eat me" she rolled her eyes once more before closing the door behind her.

Ten minutes later I was decent to join the rest. Steph was reading in the couch next to aunt Ivy. The kids were sitting in the floor, watching the TV, but I caught them looking up at my girlfriend a few times. That gave me a bad feeling.

"Do you have to read all that?" George asked. Oh, he's showing interest, _that _can_ not _be good _at all_. You're only safe from him when he ignores you.

"Yes" Stephanie said as she smiled at him "Big book, isn't it?"

"Huge. You could put an elephant inside it!" Leah said, opening her eyes a lot. Both Ivy and Stephanie giggled.

"No, you can't, silly!" George said.

"George, be nice to your sister" aunt Ivy said without taking her eyes off her book.

"Why do you have to read it?" Leah asked.

"It's for a very important exam" Steph explained.

Leah was about to say something else when we all heard the front door opening and mum greeting someone. I sat down next to Steph and we all waited until aunt Moo and uncle Dean came in, little Daisy in uncle Dean's arms. George and Leah stood up, smiling, when they saw her.

"Daisy!" they shouted in excitement. And now I officialy declare the Apocalypse has started. She smiled at them and Dean put her down.

Moo hugged aunt Ivy while Dean greeted me.

"Dougie, it's been a long time" he said.

"It has indeed" I said.

"How are things? The band?"

"Perfectly" I said. I've always liked uncle Dean, he's a nice guy. He turned to watch Stephanie, who smiled at him shyly.

"And who's this?" he asked friendly.

"My girlfriend, Stephanie" I said.

"Oh, you're the model?" uncle Dean asked.

"No, I'm not" Steph said politely. Doesn't it bother women when people confuse them with other women? It does, doesn't it? Oh, fuck.

"Oh, you're the one studying erotic massage?" uncle Dean asked and winked at me. Oh, God, I'm screw. I bit my lip and didn't even dare meeting Steph's eyes. How the hell can he remember me telling him about that?

"No, still not me" Steph said, not as nicely, but without being rude either.

"Oh, sorry" Dean said "Then you're the orphan, right?" Jesus Christ, doesn't they have _any_ tact at all? Two minutes ago I liked uncle Dean, now he's screwed me up completely. I looked down at Steph, worried, knowing this had to have hurt her feelings. A lot.

"Yes" Steph said, all signs ot politeness gone "That _is_ me"

"Oh, we finally found you" Dean smiled. Doesn't he realize he made a _huge_ mistake?

Steph just nodded and grabbed her books.

"If you excuse me, I'll go upstairs for a moment. I forgot something" she said.

"Sure, we'll talk later" he said and turned away.

Stephanie hurried upstairs and I followed her. She practically ran to our room when everyone else was out of sighed. Just when she was about to close the door behind her, I managed to get in.

"Steph, I-"

"Get out" she said as he thew the books to the bed and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Baby, listen to-

"Get-out-!" she said between her teeth as she turned around, tears in her eyes "Please"

"I'm sorry!"

"Dougie!"

I sighed, feeling like crap, and just nodded, worry spreading through my body.

'_Please, God, don't let it be it, don't let us finish like this_' I thought as I closed the door behind me.


	7. Be Serious

**For some reason "The Best In Me" by Sherwood reminds me of this story...  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

"Baby, is Stephanie coming down for lunch or is she still studying?" mum asked two hours after my -let's call it fight- fight with Steph.

I turned my head around and hesitated; Steph spent this whole time upstairs alone, I just said she wanted some peace to study and they all believed me, so nobody bothered any of us. Was it right to go after her now? I've never really had a fight with her, so I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

"Hum... I'll ask her, mum" I said and got on my feet awkwardly.

I left my relatives in the living-room and went upstairs. I walked towards the end of the hallway and stood in front of my bedroom door for a moment.

"Steph?" I said out loud shyly "Babe, can I come in?"

For a moment I could hear nothing but my relatives all moving together to the dinning-room. But then I heard footsteps inside my room and she opened the door.

"Hi" I said awkwardly. There should be a manual with instructions for situations like this one. What do I do!

I knew her well and, to me, it was obvious she'd been crying, but she'd stopped a while ago. The others wouldn't notice it at all.

"Hi" she said with a dead voice.

"Hum... Lunch's ready. Do you want to come down? Or I could just bring you the food...?" I said.

"No, it's ok, I'll come down" she said and walked pass me. I grabbed her hand softly.

"Wait, talk to me. You don't have to come down if you don't wanna"

"Dougie, I'm fine" she said.

"Are you mad at me? I- I'm sorry, I don't know what to do-" I said. I've had girlfriends before, why do I feel so lost _now_?

"I don't know... I just... You know how I am when it comes to talking about my family, I never talk about it with anyone, no one else but you, Dougie. How come you told them? You should have asked me first. Do they _all_ know?" she said.

"Babe, I'm really sorry! My mother asked me if you're parents were coming too and I told her you don't have parents, that's all. She must have told the rest, that's how our stupid family works, we tell each other everything."

She sighed.

"Ok, then. I guess if I'm some day going to be a part of them, they will find out eventually."

I nodded, trying not to screw up even more. Is that it? Are we cool now?

"Let's go"

I followed her but she still felt weird to me, like she was distant. She sat between aunt Moo and me during lunch, the kids whispering things to each other, giggling for time to time. I watched them most the time. Lunch was loudy but neither me or Steph talked, luckyly my relatives decided to focus on Moo and Dean for a while, but I knew very well that the attention would be back to the two of us soon, as it always happened. Only once Jazzie asked something about a shampoo, she said 'Hey, who's that weird pink shampoo upstairs?' and Steph said it was hers, asked if somebody minded her keeping it in the bathroom, nobody complained, that was it, quickly and stupid. Only the kids seemed to find something funny about it, which gave me a bad feeling, but I was already worrying for other things.

When lunch finished, Steph helped mum to clear the table, then went to the front garden, sat on the beach and studied the whole afternoon. I sat next to her the whole time, I just stared at her beauty and the photographs on her books. I didn't understand a thing, but she seemed to find it interesting. She read like 400 pages, I don't know how the hell she manages to read so fast and so much. I got a headache just by reading Harry Potter.

Just when I was about to fall asleep next to her, she closed her book, look at me for a moment and stood up. That was it, when she didn't kiss me I knew she was still upset. Oh, jeez, she's never going to forgive me for telling my family about hers. But _she_ was the one who wanted this! I'd thought she'd understood.

"It's getting dark" she said.

I nodded and just followed her upstairs, trying not to look at miserable as I felt. I hated knowing that she was still pissed at me and it also made me feel like crap the thought that I had no idea of what I should do to make this better.

She put the books down in my desk and I just sat in the bed for a moment, staring at my phone, pretending I was doing something for the first time in the whole afternoon.

"So..." Steph suddenly said as she took her sweater off. She was wearing a lovely blue shirt underneath it, she looked hot... But by the tone of her voice and the situation, I kind of guessed she wasn't quite thinking about _that_ kind of stuff right now "Erotic massage?"

I put my mobile phone in my pocket and stared at her for a moment; so _that's_ what's been bothering her all day long? She's no longer angry about me telling my mum about hers anymore?

I stared at her in silence as she took her shoes off too. She continued speaking when I didn't answer.

"You never told me about _that_" she mumbled.

"If it makes you feel better, she never even tried it with me" I assured her quickly.

"I don't wanna know!"

"But you just said -!"

"I know, I know!" she sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. I looked at her in desbilief; was she going insane too, like the rest of the girls? "I just- It kind of bothers me to know there were so man girls before me, Dougie. I mean, how many of them where there?"

"Well... Four, I think."

"_Four_? Four girls met your family? You know, meeting families means a great deal. You're the first boy I ever told anything about _my_ family"

"Oh, babe..." I put my arms around her and kissed her cheek. She allowed me "You're nothing like those girls, what I've got with you is a lot more serious, it's deeper"

She smiled and then giggled "You're starting to sound like a girl, Dougie" I loved hoe easy it was to cheer her up something, how she could never stay upset with me for too long.

I hugged her for a moment in silence.

"Babe..." I hesitated "You should be more open with me. I mean, you always hide your pain. Share your... Pain. I mean, it took you the whole afternoon to talk to me about what was upseting you"

I waited for her to talk, not knowing if I'd done something good by talking about this..

... But the she smiled.

"Wow, Dougie, you're finally becoming serious about us, aren't you?" she said.

"Hey!" I said slightly offended "I _am _serious about us!"

She smiled even more and kissed me.

If only she knew how serious things were going to get...


	8. Noisy Morning

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

Stephanie and I skipped last night's dinner with my family and I took her to a nice and quiet place I'd always liked, a little restaurant just a few streets away from home. I just needed some time away from my family, two days was enough to make me want to scream for help, and I desperately needed to kiss Steph without having some crazy relative staring at me with either surprise or amazement, or, like in Jazzie's case, like she wanted to kill her.

So I dressed up nicely and announced I was taking my girlfriend out for dinner.

"Oh, baby, put on a scarf, it's freezing!" mum'd said "You'll get a cold! And then you'll have to eat soup and you know you _hate_ soup. Wait a second, do we have soup?" In her mind I am and always will be her five years old little boy. And then she got worried about the soup thing, like the Apocalypse would start right away because we don't have soup.

"Be nice, Dougie. I think it's cute" Steph'd said when I complaied, my cheeks burning with embarrasement. I loved how lighthearted she was, so happy the whole time. I was so glad her family hadn't taken that away from her.

It was late when we came back, but grandma had waited for us, _of course_, and came in every 10 minutes or so to check on us until we fell asleep.

I couldn't help thinking about the ring as Stephanie sleeped peacefull in my arms, completely unaware of my intentions towards her... And then I felt kind of nervous.

_'No' _I thought_ 'She wouldn't say no. She's so going to say yes. Tom wouldn't let me do this unless it was safe_' I guess every man has these doubts, don't they?

My babe woke me up in the morning, she needed to go to the bathroom and teased me about freaking out before leaving the room. I put on decent clothes and came down to have breakfast with Steph. Uncle Dean was in the kitchen drinking tea with aunt Ivy, whispering things to each other. They looked up alarmed when we came in.

"She knows" I said as we walked in, holding hands, as always.

"You _told_ her?" uncle Dean said in desbelief and kind of annoyance.

"Hey, you know about her family, she deserves to know about mine" I said and he kind of sighed in agreement "Are you ever going to tell granma?"

"No way" he said.

"You know how your grandma is, Dougie. We would probably kill her if we told her" aunt Ivy said.

"But you're going to let her die _without_ knowing it?" I said as I picked up two cups and two pieces of cake. I sat down next to uncle Dean and Steph sat next to aunt Ivy, right in front of me.

"Well, I guess... I mean, I still can't tell her, there's too much drama going on." uncle Dean said.

"But... How long do you have?" I said. Ok, that sounds kind of evil "I mean... How old is she?"

"Dougie!" Ivy said dissaprovingly "How could you not know your own granmother's age?"

"What? I don`t! Do you?"

Both uncle Dean dna aunt Ivy looked at each other for a moment.

"A hundred years old?" uncle Dean guessed.

"You don't know either!" I acussed them.

"Well, but she's from _your_ part of the family!" aunt Ivy said.

Steph giggled. I turned my face around, away from uncle Dean, and looked at her. I was shocked.

"Babe, are you alright?" I said.

"Yes... Why?" she asked, still smiling. My other two relatives turned to look at her too and aunt Ivy opened her mouth in surprised.

"Oh, my God!" she said.

"What?" Steph asked alarmed. Her face was... Big. I mean, _really_ big. Her cheeks and neck were... Swelling. Quickly.

"Your face is swelling!" uncle Dean said.

"_What!_" Stephanie stood up in horror and mum and Jazzie came in in that moment.

"Oh, my God!" mum said and dropped her teacup, which broke into thousand of pieces when it hit the ground. Jazz just stared at her for a moment then burst out laughing.

"It's not funny!" I yelled at her.

"Relax, it can just be an allergic reaction to something!" uncle Dean said.

"Allergies can actually be fatal!" mum said and looked like she was going to faint or something.

"_Seriously!_" Steph said shocked as her face kept getting bigger.

"_Mum!_ Shut up!" I yelled at her.

"I'm going to die!" my girlfriend yelled.

"You may!" mum yelled, just as terrified.

"_Mother!_" I yelled disapprovingly and angry.

"My face feels all itchy!" Steph said as she rubbed her hands against her cheek. I grabbed her wrists and pulled her hands away from her face.

"Mum, call a freaking doctor! Jazzie, shut the fuck up!"

"Did you touch something in particular? Or ate or drank something?" uncle Dean asked.

"No! Well, just the tea and the cake!" Steph said.

"Mum, what the hell did the cake have?" I asked her.

"Nothing! Just chocolate and honey!"

"Honey!" Steph repeatedand I repeated alarmed.

"I'm allergic to honey! Oh, my God, I'm going to die!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, she is!"

"_Mum!_"

* * *

"... All she needs now is to rest" the doctor said.

"Are you sure she's not going to die?" mum asked as she bit her nails out of stress.

"Mum, I swear, if you say that one more time..." I said as I rubbed my hand against my forehead.

"I just wanna be sure!" she said.

The doctor laughed "She's not going to die. Her allergy is not that bad.

"Not that bad?" Jazzie repeated as she smiled, she probably couldn't help it "Her face was bigger than a balloon!"

"What are you even doing here?" I asked annoyed.

"Oh, come on, it _was _funny! Did you see the size of her cheeks? It was amazing!" she said and started giggling. I gave her a warning look and she rolled her eyes "Ok, ok, I'll just go!"

She turned around and went downstairs pretending to be annoyed.

"As I was saying..." the doctor said "She needs to sleep, just to relax, nothing else. And don't give her anything to eat for a couple of hours."

"Ok, thanks a lot for coming so fast" I said.

"I'll walk you to the door" mum said.

I sighed and tried to calm down before I opened the door to see Steph laying in my bed with two wet towells over her face.

"Get out" she said.

"It's the second time you say that to me" I said.

"Seriously, get out, I don't want you to see me like this, Dougie"

"Baby, come on... I'm not leaving. I want to keep an eye on you."

"_Fine_" she said "But close your eyes! I'm dead serious, Poynter"

I giggled but obveyed. I made my way to the bed with my eyes closed and laid down next to her.

"I don't ever want to leave this room" she said "I'm so embarrased"

"Steph, love, it wasn't that bad"

"Dougie, my face was twice its normal size! Your sister couldn't stop lauhing!"

"My siste's stupid, who cares what she thinks?"

"_I_ do!"

I sighed.

"You're always going to be beautiful to me."

"_Sure_"

"Oh, so you're not going to like me when I'm 80 and can barely walk?"

"I can love you, but I don't have to touch you"

We both giggled, knowing she was kidding... She's better be kidding.

"I'm sorry for ruining breakfast. What a way to start the day"

"Tell me about it..."

"Jeez, your family's never going to forget about this. I'm officially a freak"

"Babe..." I said and grabbed her hand "Welcome to our family; we're all freaks"

* * *

**P.S.: Allergies can seriously end up in the death of the patient that has it. Remember that and that you should always seek for medical attention if you find yourself in such situation.**


	9. Told You

**Ok, exams are over, family's just as annoying as usual and my boyfriend's chilled out, so I suppose that I'm coming back to normal now. I'm just so freaking sorry, girls, you don't deserve this, I'll do better.**

**The other day, this song made me cry: 'Picture' by Mute Math**. **There's just so much about him and me in that song... :(**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

By the time the sun rose the folllowing morning, Steph's face was back to normal, just as beautiful and lovely as it is every single day I look at it. Ok, call me stupid or whatever, but being in love really kind of changed me. At least when I'm with her... If you kind me alone with Danny, Harry and Tom, you'll see I'm just as disgusting and kinda stupidas I've ever been.

We came down for lunch and found my whole family outside, making 'aw' a lot of times, all in a circle around something.

"Lucky us" I said "Finally one normal lunch alone."

"Don't be like that. Let's take a look" Stephanie said, curious as she is, and dragged me outside.

It turns out the little monsters had found a little black puppy and none of us could resist him, he seemed so small and defenseless, and all of my relatives, including myself, have always loved animals. Aunt Ivy had agreed to keep him after his children had begged for like half an hour. She always agreed to everything. So mum had also agreed to keep the puppy here during the holidays until my uncle and aunt took the dog away.

The first hour with the dog was absolutely awesome, like it always is when anybody gets a new pet, until we left him alone for just five seconds and he attacked the pillows on the sofa. Mum almost died. _Seriously_. She gasped and screamed like somebody had shot her. She loves every single piece of furniture in this house and, like you may have guessed, she usually overreacts... _A lot_. Ivy promised to buy new pillows but the damage was already done and so mum spent the rest of the day laying down on her bed, trying to get over the shock.

We quickly learned to leave all the doors closed and the little new devil had been locked away in the garage, where he wouldn't give my mother a heart attack. I was kind of worried about _my _stuff, and Steph's, of course. Ok, so she doesn't have much money and I buy a lot of stuff for her -not because she asks me but because I _want_ to and I _like_ to do it. She gets kind of upset, but accepts my gifts anyway. '_I already spent the money, babe. What am I supposed to do with it now?_' I always tell her. Which is true actually.

Stephanie spent the rest of the day studying while I kept an eye on the kids while they played. They would look at us and whisper from time to time and I just knew they were after something, I _knew_ it, I could feel it on my stomach, like I could listen my name in their childish, evil minds... But, hey, what could I do but wait for them to screw up my day?

"You're such a drama Queen" Stephanie had murmured, half smiling.

I was laying on the sofa, my head on my girlfriend's lap, just watching her read and read, breath and read, blink and read. I was warm, comfortable and loved. Soon, and without even realizing it, I fell asleep.

"Babe, it's time to have dinner" she said softly and she caressed my hair. She looked at me with such sweetness in her eyes, that I blushed for a moment, stupid as it sounds. That was the very first time I ever thought she'd be a sweet mother, which made me think again about the ring upstairs.

"I fell asleep?" I asked confused as I took a look around; it was quiet... _Dangerously_ quiet "Where are the kids?"

"You may want to install a GPD chip on them, Doug" she said as she stood up, smiling. This girl loves to tease me.

I rolled my eyes and ignored that last comment, and walked slowly behind her towards the dinning room.

"How's my mum?" I asked.

"Fine, I think. But your uncle made dinner" she said.

I stopped "Which uncle? Dean or Daniel?"

"Dean"

"Dammit!"

"What?"

"He makes _the_ most disgusting pizza ever. I mean, seriously, we don't know how the hell he manages to make it taste _so_ damn bad. And every single time he offers to cook, he cooks the same horrible pizza. You have no idea how many dinners we've suffered for that thing"

She just stared at me for a moment and kept walking.

"You're seriously not ever going to complain again about Danny's overreactions" she said "You're worst than teenage girls in a farm"

"Well, I like farms"

"You know what I meant"

She took my hand as we joined the others for dinner. By the look on Jazzie's face, I knew I was right; oh, God, we're eating pizza tonight.

"He did it again, didn't he?" I whispered as I walked pass her. She just nodded.

The thing is, we are all too bloody coward to hurt my uncle's feelings and tell him that... Well, that he kind of _sucks_ at cooking. I mean, the guy cooks for the whole family and what are we supposed to tell him? '_Hey, Dean, by the way, your pizza's terrible, it makes me wanna kill myself_'? Don't think so. You may think that after all the things they do _me_, they would tell him the truth, but_ no_, being unfriendly only applies to my gilfriends.

We all looked at each other for a moment. I knew Stephanie probably wanted to laugh.

Then uncle Dean came in.

"Here it is!" he said, smiling from ear to ear. We all smiled back but wanted to died inside. Dean put a big pizza in the center of the table and everyone waited, staring at the pizza with fear. Stephanie smiled at me, apparently having fun with this, and lend forwards to grab a piece. I waited, horrified, not knowing what to expect; never before had any girlfriend of mine tried this pizza. Dean didn't seem to notice our fear.

We all were staring at Steph as she took the first bite, Jazzie didn't blink. It would have been funny if Steph wasn't my girlfriend.

She started crewing like any normal person does and kept her eyes on mine, aware of everyone's eyes on her, which she hated. We were all surprised when she took a second bite without chocking.

"Well, come on, don't be shy, eat" Dean said and grabbed his own peace. I sighed and grabbed one too; well, maybe the guy learned some good recipe after all...

But after the very first bite, I understood Stephanie was pretending. And she was actually very convincing.

"Oh, God" I said as I put the pizza down "Hum... I... My stomach hurts" Jazzie gave me a killing look, that's always been her excuse to stop eating "I don't think I should eat."

"Oh, what a shame" Dean said.

"A shame indeed" Jazz mumbled as she narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I guess I should-"

"Dougie!" aunt Ivy pointed nervously at Steph and I turned around. She had her free hand over her mouth and was looking at me with her eyes wide open.

"Babe, are you alright?" I asked. A weird sound came from inside her mouth and she ran out of the room.

I hesistated; oh, jeez, I didn't wanna be there when she vomited.

"How sexy is that?" Jazzie mumbled.

I sighed and ran upstairs. Stephanie was on the floor, her face in the toilet. Oh, jeez...

"Told you it was horrible."

She turned around, gave me a killing look and closed the door in my face. Hey, is people getting use to do that lately or _what_?


	10. There For You

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"I just can't understand how he managed to make it so repulsive!" she said as she brushed her teeth for the second time after being stuck here, inside the bathroom, for the whole last hour.

"You should have listened to me" I said, crossing my arms over my chest as I leaned against the door frame.

"Say something like that one more time and we'll see if you get any fun at home, if you know what you mean" she said. I narrowed my eyes.

"That's not fair" I complained.

"Fair or not, you'll suffer it, darling"

I stuck my tongue out and so did she.

When she was finished, she took my hand and I caressed her belly with my free hand as we walked slowly together towards our bedroom.

"How's your stomach?" I asked her.

"Oh, you're sweet now?" she said, raicing an eyebrow, faking anger.

"I can go on teasing you if you want" I smiled.

"It's alright, thanks... Something just didn't quite feel good, you know?" she said.

"I know... You just don't know what it is but that pizza's damn horrible"

"I know!"

We smiled at each other.

"Lady's first" I said as I opened the door to our room.

Stephanie and I froze.

"Oh, shit" I mumbled.

How do I describe this? It was like a hurricane had gone through the whole room, destroying everything in its way. The sheets of the bed and the pillow where on the cloor, ripped into pieces, like a couple of Stephanie's shirts and two of my boxers, one of my jeans and my favorite sweater. My suitcase with my clothes was laying broken in the middle of the room and I felt sick: oh, my freaking God, the freaking ring! I tried not to panic; if the dog ate the ring, it has to come out some day, if you know what I mean. It he didn't, then it's just there or somewhere in the room. The important thing was that Stephanie didn't have to see it.

"My books" she whispered in horror. There were sheets of paper and feathers -from the pillow, of course- everywhere. I could almost imagine the little dog dragging the books from here to there, tearing pages out of the books "M-my books."

Stephanie took a step forwards, her hands shacking. I watched her, worried; she looked sick. Well, I could buy my clothes again, that wasn't a problem for me, but she kind of really needed those books, I know how much it means to her. She picked up a sheet of paper that was all chewed and full of dog's saliva. She stared at it for a moment then balanced to the side. I caughted her quickly in my arms.

"Stephanie!" I said alarmed and laid her down on the bed "Babe, are you alright?"

I grabbed her face on my hands and stared into her eyes, she seemed lost for a moment.

"I feel sick again" she mumbled.

"Babe, they are just books, we'll buy them again. I'll get them tomorrow morning!"

"You can't, they're only available in the University's library"

"Why? That's stupid"

"I don't know why, Dougie!" she was almost shouthing this.

"Well, you'll take the next exam"

"The next exam's in four months!" she said, now really freaking out.

"It's not such a big deal, love"

"Do you not know me at _all_? It is a _huge_ deal to _me_!" she yelled and started breathing heavily.

"George!" Jazzie shouted fiercely from her room "You come here right now, kiddo!"

I turned my head aroud curiously, then back to Steph.

"Just wait here for a second, alright?" I started towards the door, but stopped and turned around again "Try not to vomit, babe"

As soon as I left the room, I was little George standing in front of a very angry-looking Jazz, his sister and cousin right beside him.

"Your freaking dog freaking eat my freaking Ipod! Jazzie said.

"Jazz, don't curse in front of them" I said, though I was just as mad as her.

"Oh, screw manners, Dougie!" she said and turned around to the kids again "What the hell happened!"

"We wanted to play with the puppy" George explained innocently "When we opened the door he ran away. We tried to catch him"

"He's fast" Leah said in her high soprano voice.

"Well, he ate Stephanie's books! And out clothes!" I said, trying not to yell like she was doing.

"Seriously?" Jazzie said, finally showing some kind of sympathy towards my girlfriend.

"Yeah" I said and sighed, turning to the kids once more "I forbid you to play with the dog as long as you're in our house"

"You can't do that" George complained.

"Oh, really? Watch me!"

"You're going to regret this!" George said furiously and the little devils turned away.

"Did he just threaten me!" I said even more angrily.

"That's kid's not going to turn out right when he grows up" Jazzie said, half-joking, then sighed and looked down at her broken Ipod. I put an arm around her shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"I'll buy you one" I said as I smiled a litte bit "I've got to go shopping anyway, I need more boxers now"

"Reallt?" she said, looking up at me, smiling back "Thanks, Doug"

"No problem, sis" We stayed like that for a moment; even though she's evil, she's not always like this and I've got to admit I've missed my sister "Well, I guess I should go back to Steph, she was pretty upset"

"Alright" she said softly, her sweet side finally appearing, but that only happened with me.

As soon as I went back to my room, I sat down next to Stephanie and put my arms around her.

"I'm sorry about your books, love"

She just nodded and curled up in my arms, tears on her eyes. I leaned against the bed's headboard and caressed her hair until she fell asleep, my eyes closing too shorty after hers.

I was still angry, I hated to see her this miserable, and wanted to tell my uncle to discipline his children for once, but right now my girlfriend needed me and I would always be there for her.

Though I had to admit I was kind of worried about George's threat. Only God knows what that kid's capable of.


	11. Old Friends

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I was cleaning up the room while Stephanie watched me from bed the next morning. She was just wearing a shirt (and underwear, obviously) because the puppy had destroyed her pyajama. She looked so damn sexy, but her sad, frustrated look on her face ruined the picture completely. I just wondered how such a little animal could have so much energy and such a destructive instinct.

"At least you'll have time to study a lot more for the next exam." I said and half-smiled in a pathetic attempt to make her feel slightly better.

"Yes, I guess you're right" she said and sighed "I just can't believe I've wasted so much time studying. Well, at least I'll be able to really enjoy the holidays and spend more time with your family"

I stopped sweeping the floor when she said that and cursed the animal in my mind. It must be the first time I ever curse a little puppy.

But this wasn't the time to argue with her, so I just ignored that last thing she said.

"We'll do something fun today, how about that, babe?" I said as I leaned the broom against the wall and then laid down by her side, my legs hanging off the bed, my hands behind my head.

She leaned closer to kiss me and I just stood still, enoying the awesome kissing-abilities my girlfriend had.

The moment her tongue softly touched my lower lip, making desire wake up inside me, I leaned away from her.

"Don't do that" I said.

"Do what?" she asked confused.

"That thing you do with you tongue"

She blushed "Oh... Sorry... I thought you liked that"

"I _love_ it"

"Then what's the problem?"

"Well, I just... You're kinda turning me on" I smiled a bit embarrased.

"Oh" she smiled too "Sorry"

I stood up and put on a clean a shirt that was laying in the chair, then kissed Steph once in the cheek.

"I'll go and get breakfast, ok? I'll be right back"

"Breakfast in bed?" she smiled "Wow, Poynter, I'll make the puppy destroy more stuff if this is how you're going to behave"

"Oh, shut up"

After lunch, I announced Stephanie and I were going to go shopping for new clothes and just relax. I was happy with the idea of a regular day out with my girlfriend instead of a whole day inside that house with all of my relatvies, but of course it was too much to ask, so Jazz and mum decided to come with us too.

Mum was wearing two jackets, a huge scarf and boots, and kept repeating over and over again that the three of us -that's be Jazz, Steph and I- would get sick 'cause we were wearing far too few clothes on. In her mind, it was absolutely possible that we would not only get a cold, but die because of it... And all of that would happen because we didn't bring a thousand jackets.

"Mum, relax" I said and sighed.

She sighed frustrated too and_ finally_ dropped the subject.

"So... What's your plan for the day?" I asked as we walked. I had an arm around Steph's shoulders and she was listening to our conversation while she watched the small stores. She found them '_lovely_'. For me, after living so many years in a place like London, they were far too small.

"We're going to do some Christmas shopping" mum said "I hope things aren't as expensive as last year"

"Mum, I can pay for them if you want" I said.

"No! You can't pay for your own present!"

"Are you going to buy our presents today too?" Jazz said and I knew she just meant her new Ipod.

"I guess I could..." Oh, jeez, I'd totally forgotten about that. How can someone forget to buy presents for Christmas?

"Excellent" my sister said and smiled.

"Why don't you buy whatever you've got to buy and Stephanie and I will meet you later?"

"Alright" mum said "You two take care."

"I know, I know, the world's a crazy place" Jazz met my eyes and we all shook our heads; how can mum live with so many things to worry about?

Mum and Jazz started their own way towards the stores while I put my arms around Stephanie.

"_Finally_ some time alone" I said.

She smiled "Yes, but we've got a lot of things to buy, mister."

Lucky for me, I don't mind shopping and Stephanie doesn't bitch at anything like most women say; either she likes something and she buys it, or she doesn't like it and returns it. She doesn't go like '_does this make me look fat?_' or '_I'm not sure... What about this color?_'. I mean, girls, if you like it, buy it. If you don't, then_ don't _buy it, that's it!

We bought new T-shirts for her, a new pair of jeans for her and another one for me, boxers for me, socks for the two of us, a new pyjama for her chosen by me, a couple of shirts for me and all the Christmas presents for my family, which were expensive and hard to choose.

"They'd better like them" I said as we walked towards the shop were mum and Jazzie were buying aunt Ivy's present. It was late and I was tired, I just wanted to eat dinner and go to bed with my girlfriend.

"They will" Stephanie said.

"How do you know? They always have something to complain about"

"It seems like _you_ have a lot to complain about" Steph said.

I rolled my eyes and opened the door of the shop for her. It was kind of difficult because I had four bags in one hand and 5 in the other one. Steph's hands were just as full.

Mum and Jazzie seemed to had bought a lot of stuff too, but not nearly as much as we had.

"Dougie!" Jazzie said and gave me two more bags "Be a darling and carrry them for me, they're heavy"

"What? But-"

"Thanks" she smiled and turned away. I narrowed my eyes with annoyance, but smiled when Stephanie kissed my cheek.

"That's it, smile. Just think we'll be home soon" she said.

"We're more than 25 streets away from home, Steph"

"Suck it up, honey"

Mum finished paying for the gift, and we all started heading back home. We were just a few streets away when something I'd feared from the very moment we decided to come happened; we bumped into one of my old classmates.

The thing is, I was a complete loser back at school and everyone pretty much hated me... When I was chosen to be a part of McFLY, everyone pretended to be my bestfriend or like me. Idiots... The worst thing is, I don't really know how to be rude with someone, so I never really confronted them.

Dylan was one of them. He was now tall, he had black hair and grey eyes, a muscular guy, he'd always had all the girls he ever wanted. He'd also always managed to be smart at the same time. He was the man every lady wanted.

"Dougie!" he said and smiled, like he was an old friend.

"Dylan" I said, not even half as excited as he pretended to be.

"You're back in town, huh?" he said.

"Hi, Dylan" Jazzie said and smiled. Disgusting, she liked him too!

"Yes, I'm back for the holidays" I said.

"Hello, Dylan" mum said politely. Sadly, she didn't notice what a douche this guy was either. I was the only idiot who did notice it.

"A pleasure to see you again, Sam" he said. How dare him call my mum for her name? "And who's this lovely lady?" Dylan said, his eyes on my girlfriend, obviously interesting. How could he _not_ be interesting? Steph's _seriously _hot stuff.

I moved closer to Stephanie and narrowed my eyes "She's Stephanie, my girlfriend"

"Oh, I see you found a pretty one this time. Very pretty"

Oh, jeez, I just want to punch him in the face.

"So, Dylan..." Jazz said, her face suddenly focused, her eyes evil. I knew that look on her eyes... She was planning something "Are you staying with your parents?"

"You could say so. They're actually on a cruise, I'm just taking care of the house while they're gone" he explained.

"So you're spending the holidays alone?" Jazzie went on. Oh, no! I can see where this is going!

"Hum, yes, I think" he said.

"What a shame" Steph said and Dylan smiled at her. I wanted to tell him he wasn't allow to smile at her.

"Mum, wouldn't it be nice if he spent the holidays with us?" Jazzie said, smiling "I mean, we can't let him be alone in Christmas! And Stephanie wouldn't feel so out of place now she's not the only one who's not a part of the family"

I could tell this last part bothered Steph, but she, as always, didn't say anything about it.

I wanted to kill my sister right then, right there.

"Actually..." mum said, turning to Dylan, smiling friendly "There's place for one more if you'd like to come"

"No, there isn't" I said.

"_Yes_, there _is_" Jazzie said, looking at me straigh in the eyes, both of us competing for our mother's choice.

"Dougie, there's plenty of place" Stephanie said, obviously not realizing what was really going on.

"Yes, darling, there's place for him." mum said.

"Well, thank you very much" Dylan said, looking once at Stephanie again before turning to my mum "I'll be delighted to join you"

I've never been able to compete against this guy, yet Stephanie was already _my_ girlfriend. _'Relax_' I thought _'It's just one night with this guy_'

"And you should also come to have dinner with us! So you won't be alone all this time" Jazzie said.

'_Oh, dear God, shut up!_' I thought desperate.

"That's so nice from you" Dylan said.

"Then come tonight" mum said "We'll be waiting for you"

"Thanks. See you tonight, then" he said, looking at all of us once before leaving, his eyes stayed in Steph but a bit longer.

I put an arm protectively around her, but then backed down because all the bags made it impossible to hug her.

"Let's gome home" Jazzie said, smiling from ear to ear.

I narrowed my eyes again; I curse the day this little demon was born.

"It's going to be hell of an interesting dinner, right, Doug?" she smiled.


	12. Oblivious To What You Make So Obvious

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His dark hair was pulled back and he was smiling that charming smile he used to use to hit on the prettiest girls at school all those years ago. He was wearing long dark suit pants and a white shirt, also a bacl leather jacket. The little son of a b**** hadn't even tried to pretend he hadn't any kind of particular interest in this dinner. It bothered the hell ouf of me when he offered his hand to Stephanie, who shook it friendly, and then he kissed her hand. I had a hard time controlling myself at that moment. Affortunately, Steph came back to my side right after that and kissed my cheek. Was she trying to show him she was mine or did she notice I was about to murder him?

The most unfair thing about it all is that everyone liked him. And I'm not only talking about my family, not only about tonight, this has been going on for years, since like forever. And I didn't understand it! I mean, every single parent he'd ever met had adored him though he was screwing their daughters and then left them as quickly as the sun rose... And yet they've always hated _me_! Ok, so he may look a little bit better, but clothes aren't anything! And skateboarding and playing the bass in a band doesn't mean I'm a rebeld or something like that! So why the hell did everyone like this guy! Jesus Christ, even granma liked him! That doesn't happen every day, let me tell you that.

"Dougie, dear," she'd said as she stood by my side for a moment "see how good those pants look? Why don't you buy some like that and stop wearing those weird short trousers you like to wear? You could really look like a man"

And she was gone before I could say anything.

"I like your trousers" Stephanie whispered in my ear and smiled.

I sighed "Thanks, babe"

"Why don't we all go to the dinning room?" mum said "Dinner's going to get cold"

"Come on, Dylan, I'll show you your seat" Jazzie smiled innocently at him and he followed her.

Steph and I were the last ones to enter the room and Jazzie and arranged our seats in such a way that Stephanie and I would not only have to be apart from each other, but she was going to have to sit next to Dylan because she told her to take that seat because I could and I couldn't argue about it in front of my whole family, I'd look stupid.

"So, Dylan..." aunt Moo asked "Do you work or study?"

"Yes, I help my father in his firm sometimes, he's a lawyer. I also study interior design and law."

Everyone seemed so impressed and just so annoyingly and unreasonably proud. Even Steph!

"Isn't inteior design a bit girly?" I couldn't help saying.

"It may be, but it was my mum's dream and I don't want to let her down" he said and all the women in the room said 'aw'.

"I wanted Dougie to be a doctor" my mum said, then sighed "but we all knew that was never going to happen"

"Hey!" I complained "I'm a very successful bass player!"

"I know, I know, baby" she said and Dylan smiled as she called me 'baby' "But you've got to admit you got lucky with the band"

"A law degree is certainly considered a smart career move" uncle Daniel said before I could complain about what my mother had said "as it commands status, prestige, employment and promotion prospects and it often has a good or even large income attached to it. You must really smart, kid."

"Thank you sit" Dylan said and Jazzie smiled at my annoyance.

"Oh, you can call me Daniel" my uncle said. I wanted to vomit.

"So Dylan..." I said as I tried to think of ways to make him look bad or at least not as good as I can be "Why didn't you go on the cruise with your panrets? Don't you make enough money with your work?"

"Actually, I could have paid it if I'd wanted to" he said "but I wanted parents to have some time alone. They haven't had time to be on their own and, well, when you're in love, that's all you want, right? To have some peace with the one you love"

Oh, for God's sake! I can't believe the way the women here are looking at him! That is total bullshit! Those lies are so freaking obvious!

"You're completely right" Stephanie said and they both looked into each others eyes for a moment. I was going to die. He smiled at her, but then she looked away from him "Isn't he right, Dougie?" she smiled at me with such sweetness that I blushed for a moment and forgot about my family sitting with us.

"S-sure" I said. Dylan seemed slightly disappointed.

"So, Stephanie" Dylan said "Are you studying anything at the moment?"

"Yes, architecture" she said, her attention back to him, a friendly smile on her face. It bothered me that she was being nice to him. Didn't she see beyond his charming smile, didn't she see what he truly wanted?

"Wow, that is so interesting" Dylan said, opening his eyes a little bit in surprise, then looked at me "Wow, Poynter, you found yourself a perfect catch, huh?"

"I did, yes" I mumbled, hating to have to talk to him.

"Well, it was about time, after all those girls I've seen you bringing home" he said, probably knowing this upset Steph. Women never like hearing about their man's exs. Well, I don't wanna hear about my girlfriend's exs either, and she's heard enough about mine lately.

"Sure" I just said.

"How are you finding interior design?" Stephanie asked him and he turned towards her again "I wanted to study that when I finish architecture. The more I study, the more oportunities I'll have in life"

"Very wise" he said to him "You could come to my house some time and I'll show you some books"

"Oh, isn't that nice, Stephanie?" Jazzie said, smiling.

"Yes, it is" Steph said, oblivious to my little sister's evil plans, unaware of Dylan's oh-_so_-obvious desires towards her.

"Then I'll take you soon" he said and smiled.

"I'd love to join you" I said, terrified at the idea of the two of them alone.

"I thought you'd said interior design was girly" Dylan said, probably following the same ideas I had in my head.

"Yes, Dougie, you don't like interior design at all, what should you go?" Jazzie said as she moved her fork from side to side, far too interesting in the conversation to eat.

"Oh, babe, you'll get bored" Stephanie said.

"Why don't you come tomorrow?" Dylan offered her "My books are there"

"I can walk you to his house, I know the way" Jazzie said.

"Thanks, Jazzie, that's nice of you" Stephanie said, smiling, her angel's face lighting up as she probably thought my sister was finally starting to approve her as my girlfriend. She was _so not_ doing that.

"That's so nice of you" aunt Ivy said.

I felt so left behind in that moment. What the hell was going on? Didn't_ anyone_ else but Jazzie, Dylan and I realized what going on? It was so freaking obvious.

"Indeed it is" mum said and smiled too.

Stephanie met my eyes and smiled and I just felt so bad, this was so wrong.

"Oh, it's nothing" Dylan said, then turned towards Steph "I'll be really looking fowards to it"


	13. Tear Us Apart

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He smiled, looking so charming I could have vomited, all women in my family and my girlfriend gathered around him. I had the feeling even Dean liked him. Like really, _really_ liked him. Remember he's gay. I guess he had to pretend in front of grandma. Uncle Daniel just shook his hand, smiled friendly -which is incredibly weird- and stepped back.

"Thanks so much again for inviting me tonight" Dylan said.

"It was our pleasure to have you here" mum said. I just rolled my eyes, crossed my arms in front of my chest and waited for him to get the hell out.

"You can come back tomorrow night" Jazzie said "Right, mum?"

Why didn't I say that one coming? I felt like banging my head against the wall. I just couldn't picture him every single night here until we left... Just when I'd thought things couldn't get any more complicated.

"Of course he cans" mum said.

"Oh, no, I don't want to be a burden" he said with fake modesty. I don't know what upsets me more: him being arrogant and vain or him faking modesty.

"Oh, come on, we enjoy having you here" aunt Ivy said.

"Do we?" I mumbled, but of course nobody heard me.

"Alright, then" he said and smiled "Thank you very much. Well, it's time to go now" Finally. He turned towards Stephanie and smiled at her like they've been best friends forever "I will see _you_ tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait"

She just smiled back at him and God, I wanted to punch him.

"Goodbye then" he said.

"Wait!" I said "Aren't you going to say goodbye to me, old friend?"

He hesitated, obviously confused by my friendliness, he knew just as well as I did that all this was a big lie, he'd always hated me and made my life impossible, and, well I've always hated him too. But he was an excellent actor -he should study that instead of interior design or law, but it's kinda great that _I_ am the star here- and recovered quickly from the surprised, I don't think anyone buy my sister and myself noticed it. He smiled and came over.

"Give me a hug, old friend" I said.

As soon as we were hugging, which was incredibly weird and uncomfortable, I spoke, barely moving my lips, but I knew he'd hear me "I know what you're trying to do. Stay away from Stephanie. She's mine"

"Is her?" he whispered back "Seems like tomorrow she'll be all mine..."

He stepped away, smiling, and after saying goodbye to the rest of the family, he left. Oh, dear God, if looks could kill, I would have killed him a thousand times tonight.

"I'm tired, let's go to bed" Steph said as she came closer to me and grabbed my hand. I nodded and followed her up the stairs.

I closed the door behind us once we were in our room, she took her clothes off and then put on her pyjama. She's just so beautiful, it keeps surprising me every time I see her.

"Are you ok?" she asked when I was still standing next to the door.

"Yeah, sure" I said and laid down in bed with my clothes on.

"It was an... Interesting night" she said.

"You found it interesing?" I said. Is that a bad thing? Should I worry about that? I mean, he's obviously handsome, all women have always liked him physically. Could I compete with him now that I'd grown up and was slightly more handsome that I'd been when I was 15? I wondered who she found more handsome, me or him.

"You don't seem to like Dylan so much. Why's that?" she laid next to me, her head in my chest, looking up at me with those pretty grey eyes she had. I put a hand on her back and caressed her cheek with the other one. Ok, I may not look sweet in videos or while I perform, etc., but that's just cause I'm really really shy... But Steph... She always brings out the best in me, even if it took me a while to get to this point ever since we started dating. Losing her won't just mean losing another girlfriend, just another breakup, it'd be so much more than that, it'd _hurt_ so much more.

"Well..." I said. I wasn't sure it was a good idea to let all my anger out "First of all, he's a liar. And, despite how annoying my family can be, they're still my family and I can't stand seeing him lying to them, it's not right. Secondly, well... I hate how he wants to compete all the time!"

"That seemed to be _you_ tonight, not him, love" she said. That annoyed me.

"And third but not least, he's going to try to get to you" I said through my teeth.

"Get to me?" she repeated.

"When I came to school here, he had every single girl she wanted, even the olders. I guess he just can't stand seeing me with a girl he'd wanted for himself if he'd met you somehwere else. I bet he feels he's losing and, dear God, how could anyone lose again _me_? I've been a loser here, you don't lose against a loser, do you?"

"You're not a loser" she said, learning up a little bit, her face serious "To me, nobody could be better than you" she smiled and I smiled a little bit.

"I wish my family though the same..." I sighed "I wish at laeast _my own mother _thought that"

"She does. How could she not be proud of you? You're a freaking star" she giggled.

"Well, she seemed to want Dylan as her son tonight" I said, truly hurt by that because it was freaking true and I knew it. For God's sake, I didn't even finished school, I dropped it as soon as I joined McFLY. That had been mum's bigger disappointment and, even if she'd never said it, I knew it perfectly.

"You're afraud I may want him as my boyfriend too?" Steph whispered. I didn't answer, knowing she'd probably get upset if I said yes. She kissed my cheek after a minute of silence "No one had ever chose me before... Well, or at least nobody had stayed by my side for so long. Dylan can't compare to you. There's not even a competition here, you've already won"

I sighed.

"Yes, but I can't stand the fact of the two of you together the whole afternoon... _Alone_." I said as I closed my eyes, I was so tired, mentally and physically.

"You should know by now that nothing will happen" she said "I'll be back in a few hours. I need this, Dougie, it's for my career. Alright?"

I nodded, I didn't feel like arguing.

"Please, don't be upset at me" she whispered.

I put both my arms around her and kissed her forehead.

"I'm sorry" I said "I just have a lot in my mind right now, my love."

"At least you called me my love" she whispered.

I opened my eyes and kissed her "I'm not upset at you, ok? I don't want to make you happy"

"Then _you_ be happy. Nothing can tear us apart. We've survived these last couple of days with your family, haven't we? How much worse can it get?" she said.

"Oh, you have no idea..."


	14. Compete

**So sorry for the delay, I've been busy and really ill, I've got to start two different treatments, the longest is going to take 3 years and includes needles, which I'm terrified of, so it's been two hard weeks, sorry girls.**

**Enjoy and review.**

**P.S.: I'm in love with Glee.  
**

* * *

I looked out the window, I could see my neighbours outside, the sky was full of grey clouds. I looked down and at my watch; 5:32 p.m. I sighed and run my fingers through my head anxiously.

"Jeez..." I mumbled upset.

Seven hours. _And_ a half. _And_ two minutes. She's been gone for all that time. _And_ with him. '_I'll be back so soon that you won't have time to miss me_' she'd said when she left me in bed. '_Or worry_' she'd added with a teasing smile.

_Yeah, sure._ Like I didn't start worrying about her the minute she left the room.

I stood up in a blink and pick up my jacket from the chair.

"Where are you going?" aunt Moo asked "The movie's not finished yet"

"I know" I said "but I need to get out"

"Out _where_?" Jazzie asked. She smiled. Like she didn't know what I was thinking about.

"I'm going to pick Steph. It's getting late"

"It's 5.30, Dougie" aunt Moo said "You've never stopped watching Back To The Future before."

"Well, I-" I hesitated, then sighed "I don't have to give explanations. I just have to go"

"I'll go with you" Jazzie said and put on her jacket. I didn't argue with her, though I deeply didn't want her to come, because it'd be a long argument and I just wanted to leave in that very moment.

I just walked outisde, without waiting for my sister, and she ran behind me. It was freaking cold and he put her hands on her pockets.

We didn't talk in the whole way, which was only ten streets until we found Dylan's big house. His father was a rather well known lawyer, though not famous, but he'd made a lot of money. I didn't like him either.

I rang the ball and waited impatiently. After two minutes, I tried again.

"Looks like there's nobody home" Jazzie said.

I ignored her again.

Why weren't they here? They were_ supposed_ to be here.

I put my hand on my pocket '_Shit, I forgot my phone_' I thought annoyed.

"Relax" Jazzie said after a while, which surprised me. Was she finally having some mercy for me? "Maybe they were already on their way to our house"

I looked at her once, nodded, and started the way to our home in silence.

Just when we were a few streets away, I saw him. Most impotantly, I saw _her_. She was sitting in the floor, with her back against a wall, her hands on her face. He seemed confused and kind of scared.

"What the hell did you do to her!" I shouted at him as I ran towards her.

* * *

_That same morning. (Nobody's POV)_

She moved her head from side to side disapprovingly and smiled at her annoyed boyfriend.

"I promise it won't take long" she said and ran her fingers through her boyfriend's hair.

"I seriously doubt that" he said.

Stephanie moved quickly and put her jeans on. She was already wait. He sighed again, knowing he was being childish, but he just couldn't help it. She smiled at him once more and she put her blue scarf around her neck.

"Look, I'll be back so soon that you won't have time to miss me" she said "Or worry" she'd added with a teasing smile.

"I already do" he said in a whispered.

Steph knelt down next to the bed and kissed him once.

"I love you" she said.

Dougie smiled and watched her leave, worry building up in his chest.

Just when Stephanie was standing outside the house, she realized she had no idea where she was going. She turned around, feeling slightly stupid, and bumped into Jazzie. Doug's little sister smiled at her.

"Oh, hi" Steph said.

"You don't know the way to Dylan's house, do you?" she said without greeting her.

"Actually, I don't" she smiled slightly embarrased.

"I'll take you" Jazzie said.

"Really?" Steph couldn't help saying "I was just going to ask Dougie"

"Yeah, right, like he's going to take you to his house..." Jazz said and started walking without telling Stephanie to follow her, but she understood and started walking behind her quickly to catch up with her.

"Thank you" she said a bit awkwarldy. She didn't know how to behave around Jazzie, as far she know, her boyfriend's sister hated her and hadn't almost talked to her, at least not to say something nice. She tried not to let that bother her, Steph thought that, in the end, she would end up accepting her, she would let her anger go. At least she wanted to convince herself of that...

"No problem" Jazzie said "Dougie can be... Very controlling, you know?" she looked up at Steph to see how she reacted to that.

"Is he? Well, he's not like that with me" Steph said, not realizing what Jazzie was trying to do.

"Oh, yes, yes, _very_ controlling. You'll see it soon" Jazz insisted.

"It's been two years since we're together" Steph went on, as firm as Jazzie "I think he's different with me"

"Oh, they all said that once..." Jazzie lied, smiled, and looked away. _That_ did bother her.

"Tell me something..." Stephanie said, not too sure of what she was doing; why would she want to know what she was about to ask? "How were them? I mean, Dougie's ex girlfriends?"

"Well... They were all extremely pretty" Jazzie lied. If she had to be honest, only two of them were actually pretty, but they were nothing compared to Steph. She was actually surprised her brother had finally found such a pretty girl, a decent one "And they were all so smart, all of them came from well known families" she went on lying. Hell, no, they were not smart, Jazzie had hated them all, she didn't though any of those girls were good enough for her talented and successful brother, not to mention she was sure some of them were after his money "Rich" Jazzie added after a moment.

Stephanie nodded, feeling the weight of the shoes she had to fill. They all sounded so successful, while she depended on Dougie. She would never understand how Dougie fell in love with her, how he could stand all her problems, but it was so easy for both of them to love each other...

Jazzie tried to control herself, but the words came out of her mouth unwillingly when she saw Stephanie's worried face "You're prettier, though"

Stephanie blushed a little bit and smiled "Thanks. I know you probably hate me, but I'd like you to give me a chance, you know? Your brother's talked a lot about you, he adores you, and I think he'd really like us to get along"

Jazzie nodded and tried, again, to control herself. Stephanie was the enemy. She was poor and an orphan. How could she ever be better than the other girls? Her brother seemed to be more in love with her, sure, but that didn't mean Stephanie was the right choice for him, right? She would not be Stephanie's friend, she would do the impossible until this girl ran out of their house crying and coursing the whole family, including Dougie, like she had managed to do many times before.

Why should things change know?

"Dylan's very handsome. And so charming" Jazzie said.

"Yes, I suppose" Stephanie said.

"So you find him attractive? Who's more attractive, him or Dougie?"

"Dougie, of course" Stephanie said without even to think about it, as if the answer was completely obvious. And it _was_ for _her_.

"Are you sure?" Jazz insisted "I mean, he's obviously going to get fat through the years"

"You think?" Steph said, remembering Dougie's marvelous body. How could he ever _not_ look wonderful?

"Definitely" Jazzie said "And I'm afraid McFLY's not going to last for too long"

"What?" Stephanie said, looking down at the blong, evil girl "Why would you think that?"

"Well, they won't be so cute when they are forty years old and they sing pop songs" Jazzie said, though she really didn't believe what she was saying. She hoped Stephanie wouldn't tell Dougie about this or she would have to apologize to his brother later "Dylan's going to be a terrific lawyer, I'm sure, he's very clever"

"I think their fans will always love them" Stephanie said as the good optimist she was.

Jazzie sighed; damn, it was hard to break this girl.

Just when she was thinking else to say, she realized they were already where they should be.

"Well, here it is" she said as the both stared at the big house in front of them. Steph would be impressed, but she lived with Dougie, and, well... Dougie's house was twice bigger than this one. Not to mention that she was also used to going to Danny's, Harry's and Tom's houses, which where all just as big and wonderful.

There was no need to ring the bell, Dylan opened the door just as they arrived. Jazzie saw in his eyes how interesting he was in this girl, probably feeling the need to compete against Dougie. How could _he _have her and not Dylan, who'd always been the ladies' favorite man? He couldn't allow such a thing to happen.

"Good morning, girls" he said and smiled, his eyes on Stephanie "How are the two more beautiful ladies in Corringham?"

"Perfectly" Jazzie said.

"Good morning, Dylan" Stephanie said.

"Would like to come in? It's cold here" he said "Are you staying too, Jazzie?"

"Oh, no, I was just showing her the way" she smiled at him; God, she thought he was so hot. How could Stephanie not be crazy about him too? "I'll leave you two alone"

"Could you tell Dougie to pick me up later?" Stephanie said, turning quickly towards Jazzie "I'm still kind of lost"

"Sure, I will as soon as I get home" Jazzie lied "Bye, Dylan"

He nodded in her direction, then turned towards Stephanie "Well, come in. I've made tea, it's right there" he said as he opened the door for her and pointed at the little table in the middle of the livingroom. She nodded, mumbled 'thanks' a bit shyly and grabbed a cup of tea.

"Thank you so much for this" Stephanie said excited, ovblious to any kind of flirting Dylan tried on her "I hope I can start the interior design classes in two years, meanwhile I just want to focus in architecture. Dougie's paying for my classes, isn't he sweet? He's been so suportive"

Dylan tried not to let that upset him, he hated how famous and talented Dougie had turned out to be. And how could that little, stupid boy be with this oh-so-damn-sexy women? She legs were the hottest he'd ever seen, and yet he wasn't allow to touch them while Dougie was. No, he could now allow this. She _had_ to chose _him_, like all girls ever had.

"That's surprising" he said "He's never been too friendly or nice with anyone here"

"Well, as far as I know, he didn't like living here so much" she said "But neither of us talk much about our teenage years"

"What's your excuse?" he asked.

"Well," she smiled "I've just said I don't talk about it, haven't I?" she said as nicely as she could.

"Right" he smiled back at him "Well..." he moved closer to her and grabbed her hands, hoping she wouldn't get offended. She didn't, though it didn't mean the same to her than to him, she didn't think like he did, Steph didn't understand the reasons beyond his charms. But she did feel slightly uncomfortable by his touch, she'd never liked when people touched her too much "I know we barely know each other, but you should know you can count on me. Whatever you need, just ask for it"

She smiled and let his hands go as she moved closer to the books laying on the table again "Thanks. You're a lot nicer than Dougie pictures you, you know?"

"Oh, yeah?" Dylan said "What have he told you about me?"

"He really hated you, he said you were one of the typical cruel boys at school" she said, meeting his eyes, disapproval on them.

"I'm so sorry he remembers me like that" Dylan said with false sadness and sighed as he sat on the big, leather sofa, just inches away from her "It took me a long time to grow up, to be mature. It really hunts me the way I treated some people back then. I wish I could take back all the things I said and did" he lied. Everybody knew he'd had the time of his life making Dougie's a living hell. Everyone but Stephanie, who bevelieved every word she said. It'd be easy to think she was stupid, but that's actually the bad things about being a nice, innocent person.

"Well, at least you realize you were wrong." she said as she quickly read some pages "This stuff is awesome. Would you lend them to me? Just to make photocopies. This is exactly what I want to study when I'm finished with architecture"

"We could go together now. I'll take you to the bookstore, we can make photocopies there, though it opens in a couple of hours"

"Oh, that'd be great"

They talked for a couple more of hours, but Stephanie spent a lot of time in silence too, reading, selecting what she thought was the most usefull stuff

Dylan grabbed all the thick books, trying to look like a gentleman in front of her.

"Won't it take a long time?" she said as they walked out the door "I mean, they are four and really thick"

"We may have to leave them there for today. I can pick them up tomorrow and give them to you, if you want"

"Oh, I don't want to bother you"

"I've got nothing else to do" he said and smiled "Besides, it'll be nice to see a friendly face. It's kind of lonely in this town without my parents."

"Yes, I know how that feels. Dougie travels a lot. I don't mind being at home alone, I just miss him"

"Doesn't it bother you to know he's sorrounded by girls all the time?" he said "I mean, he could easily be cheating on you in some random town and you'd never found out"

"I don't think about that stuff" she said. Steph had known from the beginning that Dougie would always be sorrounded by girls, that he'd always be popular with them, that they would always want to be close to him or just wish they were Stephanie, and she couldn't tell him not to be close to fans. She perfectly understood it was a matter of business "Besides, he's not like that"

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure" he said meaningfully. She looked up at him, surprised.

"What does that mean?" she said.

"Oh, you don't know?" he said, pretending to be surprised.

"Know what?" she insisted.

"He cheated on his first girlfriend. I don't know about the rest"

"What?" she said surprised "No, that can't be true"

"The whole town knows it" he said.

She looked down, slightly shocked; how could Dougie do something like that.

_'No'_ she thought _'I'm not going to become a controlling girlfriend, I trust him, I do_'

"Here we are" he said and opened the door of the bookshop "Wait for me here, I'll be back on a moment"

She leaned against the wall and tried not to let this new information bother her. Well, Dougie had told her he'd had his first girlfriend at the age of 15. He'd been young and inmature, now he wasn't like that, he was in love with her. '_But still..._'she couldn't help thinking. She sighed '_I'll just talk to him about it later..._' She took a deep breath and looked down again; she felt... Weird... Kind of... Dizzy?

The door next to her opened the Dylan came out.

"Well, it's done, tomorrow I'll just-" he stopped and stared at her for a moment "Are you alright?"

"I feel kind of dizzy, how did you know?" she said.

"Your face... It's all... Well, huge" he said surprised.

"What?" she said and turned around in a blink to stare at her face in the glass of the window of the bookshop. It was as swollen and red. She felt dizzy again and realized it'd been stupid to turn around so fast. She knelt down on the floor, turned around again and leaned against the wall once more.

"What do I do? Your face's huge!" Dylan said in horror.

"Don't look at me!" Stephanie said embarrased and covered her face with her hands.

_Dougie_

_Just when we were a few streets away, I saw him. Most impotantly, I saw her. She was sitting in the floor, with her back against a wall, her hands on her face. He seemed confused and kind of scared._

_"What the hell did you do to her!" I shouted at him as I ran towards her._

"Nothing!" Dylan said as he stepped back.

I knelt down her to her and grabbed her hands.

"Babe, it's me" I said. She looked up at me, her face so damn swallen "Oh, my god, Steph. Did you eat honey again?"

"No!" she said.

"Oh, Jesus; the tea had honey" Dylan said. Jazzie tried very hard not to laugh "I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"Of course you didn't, you don't know her!" Dougie yelled at him, he couldn't help competing even during this situation. He put one arm under her legs and another around her back, then lifted her in my arms "Don't worry, babe, I'm here now"


	15. Crappy Day

**Oh my God, no! I've become an irresponsable writter! I'm so freaking sorry!**

**If you must know the reason, well, things have been... Sad. Kind of really sad lately. I broke up with my boyfriend and it's terribly weird being single after almost 3 years together. I mean, I have no idea how to be a single teenager, this is a whole knew world to me**. **Not to mention I'm sick again and I've got four different appointments for four different doctors. I must be dying or something.**

**Enjoy and review.**

**P.D.: Jesus, the computer screen's going to make my eyes explode, stupid fever...  
**

* * *

I dragged the chair closer to the examination couch were Stephanie was lying, her face a bit less swallowed after 3 hours here and loads of medications and pills. I caressed her cheek and she looked at me with exhausted eyes.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her in a soft voice.

"Shrek must be prettier than me" she said and sighed. I couldn't help smiling as I tried very hard not to laugh. She narrowed her eyes "Don't laugh!"

"You made a joke! People laugh when you make a joke, hasn't anyone told you that?" I said, still half-smiling.

"It's not funny!"

"It was, love! What's the big deal, anyway? You know you're beautiful to me, even like this"

"Even like this? What is that supposed to mean?" she said angrily.

"Babe, chill out! Why are you so upset?" I asked and rested my back against the chair.

She sighed "Sorry"

The doctor came in, a blond nurse following him closely. She caught my eye; hey I knew her.

"Well, Stephanie," the doctor said "your face should be back to normal in a few hours. _But_ make sure you don't eat or drink anything with honey in a very long time or it could get really serious next time. Try not to eat too much for a couple of days too."

"That's it? Can we go home?" I asked.

"Yes. Jackie's going to give you some pills that will help you to stop better tonight" the Dr said, nodded once at me and Steph, then left.

"Jackie, huh?" I said as I looked up at the nurse who was taking some pills out of a wardrobe. She turned around and smiled "We went to school together, right?"

"Actually, yes" she said "I didn't think you'd remember"

Jackie'd been one of the very few people who hadn't made my life suck, but that was only because she'd been kind of a loser too. We could have been friends, both of us were in the same team, the loser's team, but I was too shy back then to even look at a girl -of couse that changed when I joined McFLY and girls were suddenly all around me-.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too, honestly" I said "So you're working here?"

"Obviously" Steph said.

"Yes" Jackie said and offered Stephanie the pills. She took them and put them in her pocket, then stood up.

"What a shame you couldn't get out of Corringham. You look happy though" I said.

"Yes, well, I've got used to it." she said and smiled.

"Shall we go, Dougie?" Stephanie said, her tone not so lovely as it usually is when she talks to me. I looked at her for a moment, kind of confused, but then grabbed her hand and nodded.

"Sure, babe" I said "Bye, Jackie"

"Bye, Doug" she waved.

Steph and I walked outside together, neither of us said anything. We took a cab and in just a few minutes we were home. Jazzie must have told everyone what happened, I hope no one bothered Steph, she was in a terrible mood.

"So... _Jackie_" Stephanie said as we walked up the stairs together, our relatives seemed to find no interest in us at the moment. Jesus, how gratefull I was for that... "She's pretty"

"Not prettier than you" I said and she rolled her eyes as she opened the bedroom's door "Ok, that's it. What's going on? Why are you in such a bad mood?"

"I dont know, _you _tell me" she said and crossed her arms over her chest.

I just stared at her, confused "What?"

She rolled her eyes again "I know what you did? Why haven't you ever told me?"

I kept staring at her "Ok, babe, I'm really_ not _following you"

"A little bird told me you cheated on one of your oh-so-many girlfriends!" she said.

"Why don't you just say _Dylan_?" I said, slightly annoyed. Oh, God, I _should_ have known he would tell her!

"Does it really matter?" she said "How could you have done something like that?"

"I was like fifteen or something, Steph, I was stupid"

"Oh, so you think it's ok just because you were stupid?"

"No! I'm not saying it was ok! I just- It was a long time ago, like seven years ago. I'd never do that to you! You should know that. Don't you know that?"

She sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Yes, I know that" she said after a moment "It just pisses me off. I'd never thought you are like that"

"I'm not like that! You know me, Steph. Don't let someone else change your mind about me. Specially not Dylan" I said his name between my teeth. I'm so going to kill that dude... I've got enough money to pay for a professional killer. He could make it look like an accident... I should think about it...

"I just would have appreciated it if you would have told me first"

"I know, babe, but I didn't want you to judge me for something that happened so long ago."

"You need to talk to me anyway, I want to know everything about you"

"Well, I want to know everything too... Like what happened this afternoon"

"What do you mean?"

"You spent hours with Dylan. Would you like to tell me what you did?"

"I just a lot of books"

"For hours and hours?" I raced an eyebrow.

"Yes, Dougie! Now you're doubting me?" she narrowed her eyes.

"No, I was just saying-"

She rolled her eyes once more, God, she needs to stop doing that "I'll take a shower now, please change that attitude by the time I come back"

She stood up and left me there like we weren't having a conversation at all. First, I was kind of angry, then I closed my eyes and relaxed; Dylan's fault, this is all Dylan's fault. I knew he would get into her mind somehow!

I took a deep breath; tomorrow's going to be another day and everything will be better.

I walked towards the bathroom and leaned my ear against the door; I could hear her humming to herself like she always does when she showers. I went back to our bedroom quickly and knelt down next to my suitcase. I took two shirts out and stared at the suitcase a bit confused. I took my jeans out and felt the panic growing inside me; oh my freaking God, where the fuck is the ring?

I looked around the whole room trying not to freak out when I saw George leaning against the door. Daisy and Leah were standing a bit shyly behind him, probably just to support him, but he was the evil one here.

"_You_" I said and narrowed my eyes "You have it, don't you?"

"And I will keep it, it's pretty" he said.

"Hell no" I said and stood up, coming closer to him, seriously furious this time "Give it to me now, kiddo, or you'll be in some serious problems."

"You can't threat me" he said "unless you don't even want to see that ring again"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Are you sure?"

We looked into each others eyes for a moment, I felt like kicking him but I can't hit a child.

"Ok, what do you want?"

"You'll be our slave until Christmas is over, then I'll give it to you again"

"Are you out of your mind?"

"That's the deal! If you want the ring again, do what we tell you to do"

"And what would that be?"

"First, I want you to buy each of us five muffins tomorrow morning"

"That's be fifteen muffings, George, you can't eat all that"

"We can. Buy them. Unless you don't want the ring"

"Alright, alright, I get it!" I said annoyed "I'll buy them. But don't tell your mum"

"Don't worry, this stays between us"

The three of them smiled once and then walked again. I staid there confused for a moment; I'm being blackmailed by kids? How pathetic am I?

I sat on the edge on the bed, put the pillow over my face and shouted, then I put it down again.

I laid down and closed my eyes; I just wanted to sleep, I wanted this crappy day to be over. I didn't even waited for Stephanie, just took my clothes off and put the covers over me. Just a few hours later, I felt her arms around me. She was being carefully, trying not to wake me up, though she already had.

"I love you, silly Poynter" she whispered, probably thinking I was still sleeping. I half-smiled and feel asleep again. Tomorrow would be a long day.


	16. BNP

**Keke: actually, I can't continue 'When Daddy's Not Around' because it's not my story, although I'd love to, I loved that story and the girl just disappeared for ages, it's been an year I think or more, I don't remember anymore. She's the reason why I always finish my stories, no matter how long it may take me hahah cause I don't wanna do to you what she did to me hahahaha Sounds dramatic, doesn't it? I'm dramatic.**

**Sorry again for the delay, I'm still dealing with some crazy shit and my health's been like crap lately, seriously how the hell do I manage to get sick every day? It's so unlike me. AND my now ex-boyfriend and I kind of broke up again and, girls, it was just horrible, I'm still shocked...  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

**Thanks for all the reviews! You girls are seriously awesome, thanks so much for your patience.  
**

* * *

I looked around once before knocking once in the door. I felt so stupid. Little George opened the door almost inmediately, he'd been waiting for me with the rest of the little demons.

"You've got the muffins?" he said and I just raised the little plastic bag I was carrying. He smiled and I gave it to him as I rolled my eyes. He closed the door right after he grabbed the bag and I sighed annoyed, then knocked the door loudly again. It kind of bothered my ears, I felt a bit weird this morning. It was very early, I didn't want their mum to see me giving sweet to them, they go ever crazier with sugar, it's like drugs to them, seriously, but this had to be done in order to get my freaking ring back. Since when proposing became so problematic?

George opened the door looking slightly annoyed by my presence.

"What?" he said like I was keeping him from doing something important. Leah and Daisy were already all over the plastic bag, staring at the muffins with amazement.

"Could I have my ring back now, please?" I said, just as annoyed. I left my oh-so-damn-hot girlfriend in bed for this. I woke up at freaking 8 a.m... 8 a.m.! I never wake up so early, ever, not even for work.

"No" he said like it was something obvious and I had to put my feet between the door and the door frame before he closed the door again. He looked up at me.

"My ring, _please_" I said as calmly as I could.

"No!" he insisted.

"Why not? You said you'd give it back to me!"

"When Christmas is over!" he said.

"Oh, don't screw with me, George!" I said "Give me my ring! It's very expensive and important!"

"I know it is, I'm not stupid, I'll look after it"

"George, you don't understand how serious it is, you can't tell anyone about it"

"Alright" he smiled, looking like an angel, though God and I know he's not "I promise you the ring will be perfectly fine... As long as you give me what I want"

"I bought you the damn muffins, kiddo"

"Now I want you to get me the new SpongeBob DVD"

"The _what_?"

"The SpongeBob movie!" he said.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, reminded myself that I wasn't a violent person, then opened my eyes again.

"Alright, I'll get it"

"Get it for this afternoon" he said "Don't be late" he closed the door and left me standing on the hallway like an idiot.

I went back to my room, thinking that I should just buy another ring but that one felt already special, even if it sounds stupid. There's just something about that ring, I've already imagined Stephanie with it and now I don't want to picture her with another random right. That's the one, that's the ring I want to give her... If she lets me.

Stephanie was already starting to dress up and smiled at me the moment I came in.

"Good morning" she said. I smiled back at her; well, at least she's in a good mood today, there's something to be happy about.

"Hi" I said "Hey, do you mind going shopping with me today? I was thinking about buying a movie for the kids"

"Aw" she said and smiled "I knew that you adored those kids deep down, they're your family"

"Sure" I forced myself to smile. What other explanation could I give her? '_No, babe, the kids have actually stolen the ring I was going to use to ask you to marry me so I've got to be nice to them and do whatever they tell me to do_' I don't think so. I still don't know how I'm going to propose to her, I was thinking about putting the box with the ring in a bigger box, decorate it and just pretend it's another Christmas present under the Christmas tree, then she opens it and she says yes and my whole family freaks out, and then YES, grandma will let us have sex, thank God.

"Give me five minutes, I'll have breakfast first" I just nodded and followed her downstairs.

Uncle Daniel was having breakfast with Jazzie. Steph sat in front of him and smiled as I grabbed one cup with tea for her and another one with coffee for me.

The four of us looked at each other a bit awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say; I didn't like uncle Daniel too much and my sister hated my girlfriend, so they weren't the funniest people to be around for us.

"So, Dougie..." uncle Daniel said after a while "Are you going on tour any time soon?"

"I think we're going to South America in a while, yes" I said.

"South America?" he said, sounding a bit disgusted.

"Wow, that must be pretty" Jazzie said.

"And dangerous. And dirty" uncle Daniel added.

"There are dangerous places all around the world" Stephanie said in a formal and friendly tone. I looked at her from the corner of my eye, not liking the way the conversation was going.

"They are a bit crazy over there..." my uncle said and put down his tea "Anyway... Elections are coming soon, Dougie. I was talking to your grandmother yesterday about that, the British National Party has been doing great"

I swallowed; God, I hope they don't win. I saw Stephanie staring at me from the corner of her eye too, she surely didn't like what she was hearing, but, lovely as she is, she wasn't going to say anything about it. Hell, I was happy she didn't! That'd be an argument that wouldn't end happily. Thing is, those in favor on BNP are a bit... Well... Not the kind of people I like. Stephanie dislikes them deeply. the BNP believes in racial prejudice and division, also in segregation, that recent immigrants are second class citizens, etc... And, well, my girlfriend was born in France and I don't see anything wrong with her living here, working here, being a part of all of us.

"Who are you going to vote?" my uncle asked me.

"Hum, I don't know yet" I said "I haven't thought about it."

"What about you, Stephanie?" uncle Daniel asked.

"Oh, I can't vote" she said and I quickly looked up at her, realizing she'd made a mistake. Daniel looked up at her too, confused.

"Why not?"

"I haven't got my citizenship yet, it's a complicated subjetct, my mum lost my birth certificate and other stuff, so I haven't been able to do it yet..."

"Wait" my uncle said "You're not British?"

"Eeer, no" Steph said, probably remembering I'd told her not to say that.

"Oh..." my uncle said, resting his back against the chair. Jazzie and I looked at each other, a bit alarmed; she knows how he can be sometimes when he gets stupid "Where are you from?"

"France"

"France?" he repeated, almost choking; it couldn't be worse... "You're an inmigrant then?"

"Yes" Steph said, a bit roughly.

"So, my love..." I said as I stood up a bit too fast, making my head hurt. God, I feel like crap "Why don't we got upstairs and, you know, finish that thing we had to do?"

She looked at me confused but I just smiled encouragingly and took her hand.

"What thing?" she whispered as she stood up and came closer to me.

"Just run, baby, run for your life before he can kick us out"


	17. The Only Good Thing

**Keke: it's super cool and fun to think that someone in China's reading my story haha I'm glad you like it!  
**

**Amy: only his uncle and grandma are BNP supporters. I dislike them too.  
**

**Breaking news: I'm going to live in Belgium for one year in 2012 so I'm_ finally _going to meet this boy who's been my friend for ages, he's from England, but hey England's almost right there next to Belgium! I'm already excited, does that make sense? The heart wants what the heart wants... My sister married a guy from _Egypt_ she met in _Australia_ so my love story's not_ that_ impossible anymore :D Here's another idea for a story! I want to meet him! -need to keep my head away from thoughts related to my ex boyfriend, this will help-  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

**Thanks again for the patience and not giving up on the story! Heaven knows my life's complicated haha**

**P.D.: I made a lot of researh about the BNP so everything you read here it's true. And I'm against it, though I do not wish to offend anyone.  
**

* * *

I laid down in bed and put my hands over my face.

"BNP supporters?" she said in a low voice, like she thought my uncle would be listening behind the door "Your family are BNP supporters? How could you not have told me that?"

"It's not a big deal" I said without openning my arms, trying to drop the subject. God knows I'm ashame of my family because of this particular subject. I hate talking about politics, it always brings trouble!

"_Not a big a deal_!" she repeated, raising her voice a little bit "Dougie, they are against_ me_ being _here_, in the country! And now they're probably against us being together. I mean, how do you dare being with a filthy, poor inmigrant? Oh, my God! Now they're going to think I'm using you for your money!"

"Babe, calm down!" I said as I sat a bit too fast and felt very dizzy. I blinked many times to recover the control of my body and Stephanie quickly knelt down next to me.

"Are you alright?" she said.

"I don't know, I feel a bit like crap"

"A bit like crap?" she said, slightly smiling "What is _that_ supposed to mean?" She put her hand over my forehead "Love, you've got fever, lay down again"

I did, but I put my arms around her, forcing her to lay down next to me. She didn't even argue.

"You should have told me about their political views. This is important, Dougie. BNP supporters are-"

"Assholes, I know."

"I wasn't going to use that adjetive..."

"My family's not like that, it's only my uncle and grandma... And it's not like they are bad people either, they just-" I sighed.

"You love them anyway"

"Love is a big word, honey... I'm just _way_ too tolerant"

"I love you being like that, but... Don't you think this is going to be a problem?"

I sighed "I don't know... You do know I'm not like that though, right? I don't care where you are, how much money you have on you bank account-"

"I don't even _have_ a bank account" she giggled.

"That wasn't the point" I said as I half-smiled.

"I know" she said and rested her head next to mine "I love you too"

I smiled and closed my eyes again, I felt like they were on fire, I couldn't keep them open anymore. Freaking hell, how do I get sick so fast? I hope this is just a cold or something like that, I've got a gig coming soon and our manager would _kill_ me if I get sick _again_.

"Dougie, you're so hot" Stephanie said and I started to laugh.

"So are you" I said.

"I meant your temperature. Try to sleep, maybe that will help you. I'll go to the bathroom and get some wet towels to put over your forehead. That always helps me."

I didn't even respond to that, just laid there. I think I fell asleep before she came back because I can't remember anything wet over me, though my hair was wet by the time I opened my eyes again. It was dark outside, the sun was setting. I must have slept a lot! Steph was still laying next to me, she was sleeping. I put on my shoes and grandma came in. She must be checking we're not making babies.

"Hi" I said.

"Hello. Is Stephanie sleeping?" she asked.

"Yeah" I said.

"Well, then please join us downstairs, we'd like to have a word with you"

I swallowed; this is going to be hell of an awkward conversation.

"Maybe later?" I said. '_Or never, grandma_' I wanted to say.

"It'll only be a moment" she insisted. I sighed and slowly followed her out of the room. I didn't even like leaving Stephanie here along in the first place.

I swallowed again when I saw uncle Daniel sitting on the sofa in the livingroom, probably pretending to read a book.

"Oh, Dougie, hi" he said casually.

"Hi" I said.

"Why don't you sit?" he said and pointed to the couch. Grandma sat next to him and put her hands over her lap. Oh, God, this is going to be one ugly conversation.

Jazzie entered the room, looked at the three of us and understood enough to leave the room as quickly as her feet allowed her.

"We know you're a big boy, and a smart one," grandma said. Well, that must be the first time one of my relatives say _that_ "and you've got your right to make your own decisions..."

"But we'd like you to know all your options and understand some facts" uncle Daniel continued.

"Ok..." I said in a very low voice, I'm not sure grandma heard me.

Daniel sighed, like he didn't want to say whatever he was about to "We really don't think that Stephanie is good enough for you, you deserve better"

"Why do you think that?" I said, though I knew the answer.

"Well... First of all, she's apparently here illegally" Grandma said.

"She's had a lot of trouble with her mother" I said.

"That's not the point, Dougie. Uncontrolled immigration is leading to higher crime rates" Daniel said.

"What does _that_ have to do with Stephanie? Are you calling her a _criminal_?"

"No, not at all" my uncle said, but he didn't sound honest.

"I've been watching her during our dinners here, you know?" grandma said "She doesn't seem to pay too much attention to our prays. She doesn't wear a Christian cross either! I'm starting to think she's not really a Christian"

"And is that a bad thing?" I said, racing my eyebrow. Yes, you can say it, some of my relatives are slightly racist, as you may have figured out.

"Of course not" grandma said. Yeah, right, like she didn't think Stephanie was going to go to hell "But we owe it to our children to defend our Christian culture"

"I don't have any children"

"You will some day, Dougie" uncle Daniel said with a very serious face "Did you know that at least twenty percent of the currently resident population were either born overseas or are descendants of foreign-born parents?"

"And your children would be a part of that group if you have kids with her. She's french! They've been against England for years"

"But she's not like that! And she's lived here most her life" I said, a bit offended now, but I was trying to control myself.

"Our family line, that stretches back into deep history, would be destroyed if your kids are half-french" Daniel said.

"We only wish to preserve our identity and national existence" grandma said.

"Well, I'm British and I'm proud to be British! But I don't have a problem with Steph being french. You will have to accept her and I'd better not hear that you've been rude to her because of her nationality! You're BNP suppoters, well, good for you! But I'm not!"

"Just think about it, will you? Wouldn't you like your children to be British and beautiful?" grandma said.

"They can still be half-British and beatiful, grandma! Jeez, you're such weird people!" I rolled my eyes, stood up offended and quite angry to be honest, and made my way upstairs to my room. Little George and the other devils were outside my door.

"What do _you_ want?" I said. Last thing I need is that little annoying kid asking for more favors. What does he want now,_ money_?

"The DVD" he said.

Oh, fucking hell.

"I-" I swallowed "I forgot about that, I had fever. I'll buy it tomorrow"

"But I said I needed it today, I wanted it _today_! You screwed up!"

"Well, suck it up, kiddo, you'll live"

He narrowed his eyes. Fuck, I shouldn't have said that.

"You really shouldn't have said that" he said in a low, kind of in a 'I'm-going-to-mess-up-your-life' tone.

"Ok, no, wait, I'll tell you what we'll do; I'll buy you two DVDs tomorrow, ok?"

"You'll know better next time" he said and walked away, the other girls following him.

I took a deep breath, cursed a thousand times in my head, then came in. Stephanie was still sleeping, she looked like an angel. I sat down her to her very carefully, trying not to wake her up.

God, what an awful day. She's the only good thing on it.

Though I tried to focus in something else, I just couldn't stop thinking about this; what was little George going to do to me now that I've failed him?


	18. Life In Pink

**HE SAID HE LOVES ME! *jumps all over the place, then sits down again, takes a deep breath and keeps writing***

**Good, I needed to let that out.**

**Enjoy and review.**

**Sorry for the delay once again, at least I've written a long chapter haha  
**

* * *

I slept with one eye opened that night -not really, but I did woke up every twenty minutes and saw grandma coming in and out several times-, too afraid that George would do something to me while we were sleeping. I kept picturing him with a knive, appearing at the foot our bed, staring at me with deep, black eyes like the devil. I think I've watched far too many horror movies with Danny on Friday nights. I was feeling so tired when I decided to finally get up at around 7 a.m.; I could hear the dog crying dowstairs in the garage, waiting until someone woke up and let him out of that cold, dark place. I wouldn't want to be there if I was him either, even less by myself. I felt sorry for him and took him to the back garden, hoping he wouldn't destroy all my mum's plants or I'd have to pay for that.

After having breakfast on my own -it was weird to have so much peace in this house-, I watched TV for a while and greeted my family as one by one the all came dowstairs to have breakfast. When uncle Daniel sat dangerously close to me, I escaped from him afraid he'd want to start a conversation or finished the one we'd started yesterday. Instead of that, I joined Stephanie in bed again; she'd woken up and was waiting for me to come back. I lightly pressed my lips into hers once and then said hi.

"You woke up early, and yet you still look tired" she said

"I couldn't sleep" I said.

"Did you have a nightmare?" she said and run her skinny fingers through my messy hair.

"Something like that..." I said.

She kissed my cheek and smiled "Aw, my poor baby. We'll have a nap this afternoon then, ok?"

"Sounds good" I said.

She stood up and I couldn't help staring at her legs; God bless her short pijama. I can't wait until we go back to hour lovely home, if you know what I mean...

"I'm going to have a bath" she said "My back hurts"

"Ok" I said "I'll be downstairs"

I kissed her lightly once again and made sure uncle Daniel wasn't in the living-room anymore, then sat on the couch again and tried not to fall asleep while watching TV. I was an easy target here and, though as much as I wanted to sleep, my safety was first.

George came down, followed by her sister, Leah. They looked at me once, but didn't even say hi to me, just kept walking towards the kitchen. I would have to watch my back all day long.

After a couple of minutes and almost falling asleep, I decided to get a cup of coffee. George was sitting in a chair, looking at me as I put some coffee in my cup. I couldn't help feeling something wasn't right. My aunt was next to him, reading, with a cup of tea in her hand. My lips were laying over the cold porcelain, George's eyes on me. As soon as I tasted the coffee, I spit it in the sink.

"What are you doing?" my aunt asked confused.

"What did the coffee had!" I said horrified, she thought I was talking to her.

"Just honey and some sugar" she said innocently. I hesitated, looking down at the cup of coffee... Well, now I feel stupid.

"Oh..." I said.

I could tell George wanted to laugh.

"Well, it's horrible" I said.

"Then dont drink it" she said, slightly offended. I blushed, put down the cup of coffee in the sink, and walked towards the couch again. God, it was so hard to keep myself awake. I was watching the news, though I could hardly concentrate, Jazzie was staring at me curiously which made me wonder from time to time if there was something in my face, it was a very uncomfortable feeling. At least I trusted my sister enough to be sure that she wouldn't let our cousin do anything to me if I fell asleep.

"Take a nap if you want" she said after a while "I'll wake you up if I leave"

"No, I can't sleep. Believe me, I've _tried_. I keep picturing George trying to murder me" I said.

She giggled "You're so dramatic. Ok, he_ is_ evil but-" a piercing scream made her stop and I got on my feet so fast when I recognized the voice that it made me dizzy for a moment, though I kept moving. She stood up two and followed me upstairs, my aunt behind us. I ran towards the bathroom, where Stephanie was supposed to be taking a bath -that'd been like more than half an hour ago- and opened the door without even knocking. She was in fact naked, standing in front of the mirror, horrified, her hair... Bright pink? Before I could close the door again, my relatives had already seen her.

"Oh, my God, Dougie!" she yelled at me and closed the door, hitting it against my forehead. That made me a big more dizzy again.

"I'm sorry!" I shouted, my cheeks probably pink, but not as pink as hers had to be.

"What happened to her hair?" Jazzie asked.

"What happened to your hair?" I asked, feeling a bit stupid, like I was talking to the door.

"I don't know, I don't _know_! It's pink! IT'S FREAKING _PINK_!" she shouted from the other said.

"I _know_" I said "Babe, put a towel around you and let us in"

"No!" she shouted.

"Come on, open the door, baby" I insisted as I run my fingers through my hair nervously. What the fuck happened. How the hell does someone dye their hair by mistake?

"Maybe we can still remove it" my aunt shouted, so Steph could listen. A second later she opened the door, but only let my aunt and sister in. A few minutes later, the rest of my family was by my side, confused.

"What happened?" my uncle asked.

"Honestly? I've got no idea" I said. Did that just really even happen?

I waited and waited, I could hear them talking inside the bathroom but I couldn't make sense of the things they were saying, also water running constantly. I've got no idea how long I'd been waiting. I was patiently waiting outside, my back against the bathroom's door. I was going to end up falling asleep like that... This was weird, as far as I know, Stephanie's never dyed her hair, why would she try to dye it now? And pink? How can you get confused with that? You have to be really stup-

Oh, wait a minute. Oh, fuck.

"George!" I stood up in a blink, furious. I walked towards the kids' room, but they weren't there. I looked out the window and saw them playing in the garden with the diabolic, little dog. I could feel my fists trembling out of anger.

I turned around to walk out of the room and towards the garden when I saw it, they didn't even hide the evidence; there was a black and white bottle from one of those famous brands of shampoo and that kind of things that women get crazy about laying in his bed. I grabbed and read the label; yes, pink dye. The bottle was rather empty. How the hell did these kids manage to get this?

"Jazzie" I said, once I was in front of the bathroom's door again. I felt like an idiot, talking to the door "I think I've found the dye"

She opened the door a little bit and looked at me confused.

"Hey, that's mine" she said, then looked back up at me, looking a bit afraid "I swear to God I didn't do it, I know I can be a bitch but I've never gone _that_ far"

"I know, I found it in the kids room"

Jazzie first raced an eyebrow, then opened her mouth to speak, but close it again. She just stared at me for a moment, kind of in shock "Wow" she finally said "Wow... They are... Crazy. Why do they do that?"

I opened my mouth but close it again quickly; how could I explain this to her without revealing I was going to propose to Steph?

I couldn't.

"I don't know" I lied "Maybe they thought _I_ was going to take a shower"

Jazzie took the bottle from my hands and sighed "Why didn't I figure it out early?" she said "It was so obvious. No wonder why we couldn't just wash it away or something... It's long-lasting semi-permanent dye. As the name implies, it has the longest life remaining even after more than 20 washes, depending on the brand. This one if oh-so-freaking-great, poor Stephanie. I wanted to dye my hair but mum wouldn't let me."

"_Pink_?" I said "Why did you chose _pink_?"

"I wasn't going to dye _all_ my hair" she rolled her eyes and sighed, then closed the door out of the blue, almost hitting my face with it.

I didn't see that coming.

She opened it again just a moment later "You'll want to wait in you room, this is going to take a _long_ time, bro"

I sighed, buried my hands on my pockets and walked towards my bed. I closed my eyes and when I opened them, everything was darker, I'd barely realized I'd fallen asleep. Steph was sitting next to me, a towel over her head. I took a deep breath and sat in the bed, feeling a bit lost.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Six o'clock I think" she said.

"_Six_!" I repeated. I ran my fingers through my hair and stared at her. She looked like she'd been crying. "Baby, how are you?" I asked in a soft voice, speaking as sweetly as I could.

She just nodded and took my hand. I caressed her cheek with my free hand.

"Did they manage to remove it?" I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer, but then again, I know nothing about that kind of stuff, I'd always had someone else to dye my hair.

"A bit" she said "Your sister said I must have spent too much time with it and didn't notice it"

I felt so guilty, this was all my fault; of course I wasn't the only target, they could use Stephanie too to piss me off. My sweet Stephanie...

"I'm sorry" I couldn't help saying.

"Sorry for what? It wasn't your fault" she said.

I hesitated "Sorry for opening the door like I did, I should have knocked" well, that wasn't entirely a lie, I had to apologize for that too.

"Oh" she said "It's ok... I just hope your aunt or sister never say anything about that ever again" she cheeks went red.

"Can I see...?" I asked, not sure I should have.

She took a deep breath "I guess you'll see it sooner or later"

She took off the towel and looked down, embarrassed. Her hair was still pretty much pink, though you could still see some parts with her natural light brown hair. At least the root of her hair wasn't pink. It didn't look _that_ bad now. It wasn't _good_, but it wasn't _terrible_ either.

"I look awful" she said in a whisper. I took her face in my hands and forced her to look at me.

"No, you don't, Steph" I kissed her lightly once "Do you believe me?"

She hesitated "_Maybe_"

"You look a bit like a badass" I laughed and she giggled. It was so good to see her smile again "So how long is it going to be like that?"

"I don't know" she said "I don't want to think about that either" she sighed "I just don't understand how this all happened. Someone must have changed the contain of the bottles and forgot to tell us"

"I'm sure that was it" I swallowed; oh my God, I just lied to her. I don't think I've done that many times, but I knew it felt absolutely horrible. I had no other choice! If I accused the children, she'd want to hear all about my accusation and right now I couldn't explain myself, not to her or anyone.

She closed her eyes and rested her head on my chest.

"I just want to..." she sighed "Forget about it"

I nodded and kissed her now half-pink, half-brown hair. I would have to do whatever the kids wanted, I couldn't risk Stephanie again, I couldn't foresee what they'd do either because I had no idea wheter they would go on tormenting her or me. I'd have to be their slave or tell Stephanie the truth... I wasn't ready for that, not just yet.

"I'll take care of you, babe, just relax now" I said, feeling so guilty. I felt like George's puppet. And all because of a ring.


	19. Ice

**I'm a horrible person, I admit it and I take full responsability for it. SO FREAKING SORRY FOR THE DELAY!**

**I must say that at least I do have a good excuse; I'm in the pre-selection of handball of my city, which is kind of a big deal and I have train a lot. Apart from that, I'm in a choir too, plus piano classes, plus clarinet classes coming soon aswell as French classes, and school, obviously. So I'm not just laying back in my bed instead of updating.  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

Stephanie spent about one hour staring at herself -well, her hair- in the mirror before she sighed and stood up.

"It tooks better" I said.

She gave me a killing look; she hates lies, even white lies. '_A lie is still a lie even when it's white_' she would always say.

"Weird, ok. But better than yesterday" I said.

"I dont want to go downstairs"

"Come on, my mother wants to see you and your stomach keeps making sounds. Neither of us has eaten in a long time" I said in a low voice. Everybody in my family knew by now, I'd told Jazzie to tell them so their eyes wouldn't pop out in surprise when they saw her. That'd only make Steph feel even worse.

"Can't we just eat here?" she said in whisper.

I caressed her hand.

"We can go home if you want" I said.

She rolled her eyes "We're not leaving, Dougie"

"I was just saying..."

I stood up too and ran my fingers through my hair.

"Let's go then" I said "We'll have lunch and then come back upstairs if you want"

She nodded and I kissed her cheek.

"You'll always be beautiful. I promise we'll fix it when we go back home" I said. She half-smiled "Oh, and... Please try not to be so dramatic about my mum, she already has enough on her own"

She grabbed beanie and try to put all her hair inside it.

I felt like murdering George. He'd gone too far.

Mum was horrified when she was my babe's hair and apologized a hundred times about the accident, though nobody had any idea George had done it. I could tell Stephanie would rather skip this conversation, eat and go back to our room. Well, she'd have to get use to it... Meanwhile, neither my uncle or my grandma said anything, thank God. Jazzie seemed to be a bit more mercyfull, I guess she understood what this meant to a girl, being so girly as she is. Though she wasn't being exactly lovely either, she just ignored us in a 'gentle' way -it could be worse. I did catch her talking to talking to Stephanie once, asking her about France; Jazzie loves travelling and I always take her with me when mum allows me. Stephanie starting telling her she liked England a lot more and started telling her about some places I didn't quite hear, but Jazzie just stood up and left. I hoped Steph didn't think it was personal.

George was there, staring up at me, when I opened the bathroom's door. He'd been waiting. His sister and cousin were by his side, as they always were.

"Now _what_?" I said, annoyed.

"We're bored" George said, his face expressionless.

"Mummy doesn't want to take us out" Leah said, frustrated.

"So we want to play a game"

I stared at him with annoyance "What kind of game?"

"Treasure Hunt" George answered and smiled meaningfully.

"Hold on right there, kiddo" I said "We're not playing Treasure Hunt with my ring. No way in freaking hell"

"Don't play if you dont want. Good luck finding it without our clues!"

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. This was an endless torture, I can't wait for this kids to grow up...

"Alright, alright" I said, avoiding their eyes "Give me the first clue"

"We'll tell you tonight, when the rest are sleeping. Be by the Christmas tree when the clock says 1, we'll be waiting. And be quiet!"

And like that they left. Steph was waiting for me downstairs, watching TV in the living-room. I could tell aunt Ivy would stare at her hair from time to time, and look away ashamed if I caught her staring. Thank God Stephanie didn't notice.

"What took you so long?" she asked and opened her arms for me.

"Nothing" I lied. I hate lying, for God's sake, but what else could I do? Christmas was near, only three days away, soon I'd be free from this hell. I wouldn't have to lie anymore and I'd be back home with my sweet lover and, maybe, my future wife.

I put my arms around her and kissed her once, quickly, so it wouldn't be uncomfortable for Ivy.

Once again, we went to bed early and it was really hard not to fall asleep while hearing her even breathing and being so warm next to her. The last time grandma came to our bedroom was 12.47 or something like that. By then I knew she'd go to sleep and, apparently, the kids knew this too, they'd planned this.

I put my jacket and jeans on again, and went downstairs, walking on my tiptoes. I felt stupid. I wonder what the clues would be. I mean, they're just kids, it can't be hard...

The three of them were there, waiting for me. God, I just wanted to go to sleep...

"Let's do this fast, shall we?" I said.

"I'm sleepy" Leah said, pulling from George's shirt.

"There are five clues around the house. Find it and you'll find your ring"

He opened his tiny, pale hand towards me and I just stared at what was on it; it was some kind of white grain, like sugar or salt.

"That's not a clue, that's... Well, what's that?" I asked.

"Sugar!" he said, like it was obvious. Yes, sure, like I could _see_ anything.

"Is _that_ supposed to be a clue?"

"Just find it" Leah said.

"Leah!" George said annoyed.

I smiled; oh, so that was the trick? I had to find the sugar to find the following clue?

I walked towards the kitchen, the kids following me closely. I opened one of mum's cupboars and there it was the tin where mum keeps the sugar. Next to it, there was a book. I grabbed it. Books, where are the books here? Mum doesn't have a library, neither Jazzie, mum or me are interested in reading.

'_Aunt Ivy_' I thought. She always takes her books with her, always. She usually carries them all in just one bag.

I ran upstairs on my tiptoes and opened the uncle and aunt's bedroom door very slowly. The kids were still following me. Jeez, I could get in trouble for this. I held my breath and stared at my uncle and aunt while I walked towards the wardrove. I opened it and it made a weird sound. I turned around to see them again, but they were still sleeping. Dear God, uncle Daniel snores so much, how can aunt Ivy stand it!

I opened one of the bags there; it had uncle Daniel's clothes. There was no time to close it, it made way too much sound, I'd do it later. I opened another one, a red one, and there they were, the books, but nothing else. I took one book and put in upside down; if there was something inside it, it'd had to fall. But nothing happened. I repearted that with several books, until a piece of wrapping paper fell from a big book.

I tried to leave without waking them up and, for some reason, I got lucky and nothing happened. Hey, maybe this would be over for good soon.

Under the Christmas tree there was a big pile of gifts. Loads of them had the same wrapping paper I was holding. I bit my lips; would I have to unwrap them? Someone would get reaaaaally pissed off with me... But what other choice did I have! Maybe I could fix it all before someone woke up. The sooner this was over, the sooner I'd be able to wrap the gifts again.

So I stared with the little one, not really paying attention to what it was but only expecting something to be out of place, expecting to find the following, obvious clue. I should have guessed the bigger one held the clue but I didn't until all of the gifts were unwrapped. I'm brilliant, really. The funniest thing is that the clue wasn't actually_ inside_ the wrapping paper, but clued to the side of it. I didn't notice this until the damage had been made. But there it was anyway, the little red flower, my mum's favourites. I smiled; yes, that'd be easy. I ran outside, leaving the door opened for the kids, and almost stopped when the frozen air hit my face. It was snowing. I took a deep breath, which I shouldn't have done, my throat and lungs semed to froze inmediately. The kids didn't seem too eager about going outside either, but they followed me anyway as I ran towards mum's plants. I knelt down next to the flowers, mud sticking to my jeans quickly, it was cold aswell. I cut a lot of flowers by mistake until I found a little piece of paper with two words; one was 'hairy' and the other one was 'slobber'. I knew it almost inmediately; the freaking dog!

I ran around the house and made sure the kids were following me; yeah, I hated them, but I had to be responsable for them. I stopped when we reached the garage, my body was starting to tremble.

There it was, the little dog. It had a rope around its neck.

"Oh, my God" I said "You did_ not _tie the ring to that rope, please say you _didnt_"

"We did" Daisy smiled happyly, this was nothing but a game to her, she didn't understand how important and serious this was.

The little puppy stared at me from the other side of the garage, the kids standing behind me in the entrance.

"Ok, good dog, stay there" I said as I walked towards it, very slowly, so I wouldn't scare it away. I reached fowards with my hands to touch the dog but it ran away. I jumped over it but stumbled in the way "Catch it!" I yelled to the kids, but the weren't fast enough and the dog ran away.

I stood up in a blink and ran behind it. My God, my chest was freezing, but I didn't dare stopping; that dog would never come back if I didnt catch it now and my ring would be gone forever! Who knows who will find it!

I followed it to the car, shouting its name, the kids behind me, shouting too, though I didn't understand what they were saying. My body was colder than ever, my face felt dry and it even kind of hurt. Soon I heard other voices, but I didn't dare stopping or turning away, I'd catch that dog even if it was the last thing I did. I recognized Stephanie's voice aswell as my uncle's and Jazzie's.

"Dougie, stop!" Jazzie shouted to the top of her lungs.

The dog suddenly stopped in the middle of a park but I kept running towards it, I was sure it'd run away as soon as I came closer.

I was just meters away from it when the ground behind me disappeared. Ice. The lake of the park.

The frozen ice broke and I fell into the frozen water, having little time to hold on to the rest of the frozen ice around me. My heart was beating way to fast. I tried to reach the surface with my head and when I did, God, I felt like dying, I couldn't think, I couldn't breath. The last thing I saw as my uncle running towards me.


	20. You're So Cold

**So I wrote a lot and I really liked it, but then clicked something and it all was erased. Cool. I'm so freaking brilliant. I amaze myself.**

**Anyway, thanks a lot again for waiting and for all your awesome reviews :)  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking?" Stephanie yelled at me.

Uncle Daniel put me in front of the fireplace and started to take my clothes off. Jazzie ran upstairs and came back just seconds later with a pile of towels and her bed cover.

"Is he going to be alright?" she asked.

My body was shacking uncontrollably, I could barely think, I couldn't feel some parts of my body but I did feel my heart beating way to fast inside my chest, I thought it was going to explode.

"Call a hospital" Daniel told his wife "Dammit, Dougie..." he mumbled as he put the towels over me.

"What on Earth were you doing?" mum said nervously.

I couldn't asnwer then.

Stephanie knelt down and put her arms around me.

"You're so cold" she sobbed.

"You could die of hypothermia, you ass!" Jazzie yelled at me.

I swallowed as I tried to think.

"Th- The d-dog" I managed to say. Where the hell is that dog? I didn't want the others to notice the dog, they'd see the ring, but I had to know, I had to know it was safe. I could see George in a corner, the girls behind him, holding the dog in his arms, but I couldn't quite see if the ring was still there.

"Does it even matter!" Jazzie yelled.

"Forget about the dog!" Steph said. Well, at least they have something in common now.

"How did it get out anyway?" uncle Daniel said "Did _you _let it out, George?" he asked George.

"No!" he assured him. He's not so tough now, _is he_?

"Why weren't you in bed anyway?" aunt Ivy asked "You could have get hurt!"

"Give me the dog, I'll take it to the garage" he said.

"No!" I shouted, horrified. No, it wasn't the time yet, none of them was ready for that... "I'll take it" I tried to stand up but Stephanie pulled me down.

"Are you freaking crazy? Do you want to tie!" she said, hysterical. I'd never seen her like this before.

"Dont be stupid, Dougie" uncle Daniel say "Make sure a doctor comes quickly" he said to Ivy then walked towards George. I felt sick. I thought I was going to throw up.

George looked at me for a moment, we'd agreed this had to be a secret, and now everyone would know...

Uncle Daniel took the dog in his arms and inmediately -obviously- noticed the rope. He untied it and took the ring in his hand. He observed it for a moment, like everyone in the room, then looked down at me.

"Is this what you were looking for?" he said, racing an eyebrow "This is an engagement ring, isn't it?"

"Well... Yes" I said in almost a whisper.

Stephanie looked at me, surprised.

Nobody talked for a moment.

"You were going to... propose to me?" she asked without blinking her eyes.

"You were going to propose to _her_?" uncle Daniel said, he probably couldn't help himself.

"Dougie, this is marriage we're talking about!" my grandmother said, just as horrified "You haven't thought it through... She is... Well, she is..."

Stephanie looked down. Oh, God.

"_Stop_ it, will you?" I said, my body still trembling "I'll marry whoever I wanna marry!"

"Dougie, are you _sure_?" Jazzie asked, burying her hands on her pockets "I mean... You could wait..."

"You have to think about your _family_ too!" uncle Daniel said.

"Can't you just be freaking happy for me! I'm getting married, I'm_ finally _settling down!"

"Wait" Steph said in a whisper "Dougie, can we talk about this...?"

I looked at her in surprise, I didn't like the tone of her voice.

"Talk...? Talk about what?"

"Well, I... I don't think I'm ready for marriage" she said, looking incredibly uncomfortable, whispering "I don't think _you_ are really either, at all... I mean, come on..."

"See?" grandma said "And she even dares saying no to you!"

"Shut up!" I yelled, then looked back at Stephanie "Stephanie, love... Don't you wanna marry me?"

"It's not that, it's just... We'll, I've never thought about it, you've always been so... Distant, careless... I just... I never saw it coming"

"Well, it _was_ supposed to be a surprise!"

She didn't anything else. I didn't know what to do. I felt so humiliated, so sad aswell.

"So..." I said. I knew everyone was staring at us.

"I think I need some time" she said, looking down.

"But, I dont understand... Are you going home? To London?" I asked.

She stood up and I did the same, afraid she'd disappear or something.

"I don't know, I need to think. I- I'll get in touch with you, ok?" she said. She hesitated, then walked pass me, towards our room. Just a couple of minutes later she was gone to God knows where. I just stood there, frozen. I didn't understand- What the hell had just happened? Was I single? Did this _really_ just happen? Did she _really_ say no?

My relatives where still there, staring at me awkwardly, without knowing what to do.

"Dougie, I'm so sorry-" Jazzie whispered.

"Don't" I said, raising a hand "You're not sorry. None of you are sorry. You did _everything _you could to make this happen... Just was you _always_ do"

"Don't talk like that" mum said "You know we love, we're just a complicated family..."

"Girlfriends come and go, family's what really matters" uncle Daniel said and came closer to me to rest his hand over my shoulder, but I leaned away, the towels falling down my shoulders.

"Well, if _this_ is what a family is supposed to be, then maybe I don't want one!" I yelled at them, _all_ of them "You don't care about me! All you care about is _you_! What _you_ think, _your_ believes, _your_ feelings! None of you has _ever_ stopped to wonder what the hell _I_ am thinking, what the hell _I_ am feeling! And now, look what _you_'ve done!" I moved my arms hysterically, tears in my arms "You've done it again!" I laughed without humour "You've manage to scare away another of Dougie's girlfriend! The one I loved the most! But what the hell do _you_ care, right?"

They all just stared at me. I was breathing heavily. Even George looked like he couldn't say a thing.

"This time..." I said as I took a deep breath "This time I'm leaving too. I rather be alone during Christmas than being here with the people who's made my life a living hell."

"Dougie, please-" Jazzie reached forwards.

"Don't" I raised my hand again "Don't ever talk to me again"


	21. No Exception

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews!  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

Jazz's POV.

I stared at the empty bed. I touched Dougie's old pilow. It was actually mine, I stole his years ago and he never asked me to return it. He never asked for anything.

I sighed.

The room felt so... Useless... Empty... Without him on it.

My phone rang, breaking the deep silence I wasn't use to at this point. It moved uncontrollably inside my pocket.

"Hello?" I said.

"Please tell me it hasn't happened _again_" I didn't have to ask who this was, I recognized Tom's voice almost inmediately. He sounded very troubled.

"Well..." I hesitated "Should I not answer, then?"

"Oh, dear God, Jazzie! Do you have any idea what this means!"

"It wasn't _my_ fault this time! It was just... Well..."

"_What_? What happened?" he asked impatiently "Why do I suddenly hear your brother's came back alone? And he wouldn't talk to me when I called him and tried to get him to explain something, _anything_, to me!"

"He proposed to her, she said no and both of them left. Separately"

It took him a while to suck it up apparently.

"Tom...?" I said.

"He _proposed_ to her?" he repeated, sounding very shocked. We all were. No one ever saw_ that _one coming.

"Yes"

"And she _really_ said no!"

"That's what I said" I sighed. The subject made me uncomfortable, though many times I'd laughed about Dougie's ex-girlfriends. This time it wasn't funny.

"I can't believe it! None of it! We all thought she'd be _the_ one for him"

"He seemed to think that too" I remembered the way he looked at her, so different from the way he looked at his past girlfriends. Something had changed, I noticed it from the begining and it bothered me _so_ much right there, right then...

"Don't you know where she is?" he asked "She can't be at Dougie's and I've never heard her mention other friends... Maybe if I could just talk to her..."

"I dont know where she is, I'm sorry" I said.

"Well, then..." he hesitated, maybe not sure what he should say now. There was just nothing left to say "I'll see if there's anything I can do, Dougie must be so broken... Let me know if you hear from them"

"Ok..." I almost choked.

I sat on the bed.

'_It's not my fault_' I thought once again '_This time I had nothing to do with their breakup!_'

Then why did I still feel so guilty, so miserable?

I find it hard to picture my brother with somebody else... He's taken care of mum and I ever since out father left, always tried to make us happy, baring our crazyness. Now we had all driven him far too crazy. He didn't want us, _any_ of us, at all. He started yelling at us and never stopped until he was out of the house and gone. Mum begged him to stay, but he didn't hear her for the first time in his life. For the first time ever, he decided he'd had enough. Dougie didn't even want to look at us. He'd left just a couple of days before Christmas... He'd never done that before.

This was a big deal. This meant a lot. He didn't want us anymore.

And all because of _her_! Was it _our_ fault that she rejected him? _No_! Was it _my_ fault? _No_!

'_Then why...?_' I sighed as I kept thinking '_Why do I still feel so guilty?_'

Mum hasn't been this sad since dad left. I don't remember that day very well, luckyly. Dougie must remember it clearly though. I just remember he would always come to me whenever I was feeling sad, whenever I asked why dad had left; then Dougie would take my hand and tell me to smile even when he couldn't 'cause he understood better what was going on. He understood better then than dad had left because he didn't love us... And now Dougie didn't want us anymore, just like it happened to with my father... This had to be like a déjà vu tu my mum. And it was to me too, now that I saw things like that.

'_If only Stephanie had said yes..._' I thought. Uncle Daniel and my grandma are old-fashioned and... well... a bit racist to be honest! But, hey, if they got married, they would have to shut the hell up after all, right? They think they are so tough... Well, I'm just as tough. I would have told them to shut the fuck up and leave Dougie alone... I _should_ have done that. My jealousy hadn't let me.

'_If only I could somehow fix this mess..._'

But how could I? I'm stuck here! And what would I do anyway? Nobody knows where Steph is anyway. And what's the point in trying to talk to Dougie? He won't forgive us, not this time.

'_Unless I find her..._'

Like Tom's idea! What if we got her to change her mind? Maybe if I get them together again, he'll forgive us, he'll see we still love him, even though we are... Well, unbearable.

'_Nobody knows where she is!_'

Nobody was gentle enough to ask... And she wasn't with Dougie... And she can't go to her family, she doesn't have one as far as I knew, or at least she couldn't count on them.

I remembered something and put my head in my hands, trying to remember. I had ingored that day while trying to be rude with her. She was talking about her favorites places in the world...

'_What did she say to me that morning?_'

She said she liked France, but she'd always like England a lot more. She mentioned three places...

'_London... She mentioned three places in London_'

One was Dougie's home, she said she loved the design of the place, an old building. She said it reminded her of something, I can't remember what exactly...

"Shit!" I said out loud, frustrated "What else did she say!"

Why did I have to be so stupid? So _selfish_! What was I _thinking_? Of course Dougie would have to get married sooner or later, one day, either I liked it or not!

If I'd only listened to her!

I sighed, feeling extremely frustrated and angry at myself.

At least maybe there was a small chance to find her if I remembered what she'd told me, but I just couldn't... I stood up and looked out the window. I closed my eyes and touched the cold window; it was still snowing outside, like the night Dougie fell in the park's lake.

'_That's it!_' I thought '_She said something about a park... A tree, colors.._._ Something about Dougie too..._'

She'd smiled shyly at me and described the place where they'd met. A park. She'd said that had been the first time she'd laughed so much in many years, she'd said that place was special because, to her, it meant the end of her old sad life. I remembered that part now and I felt guilty for ignoring her that morning, she was being nice to me, telling me stuff about her... I should have listened to her.

But there was something else related to the park! The third place... I _had_ to remember it! She could be there!

"What the hell did she say, dammit?" I hit the window.

I grabbed my phone again and dialed Tom's number.

"Hello?"

"Where did they meet?"

"Jazzie? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. Where did they meet?" I asked impatiently.

"What are you talking about?"

"My brother and Stephanie!" I said anxiously "Where did they meet?"

"Manchester, they met in Manchester" he said, sounding a little bit confused "In a park in front of our hotel"

"That's it, she's got to be there! Do you know how to get there?"

"Yes I know... But- How do you know she'll be there?"

"She told me about it, she said it was one of her favourites places in the world?"

"Well, but if she's got more than one favourite place-"

"We've got to at least try! Please! Dougie hates me, he won't forgive us at least I fix this. Please, Tom"

"And what am I supposed to do? Pick you up and drive to Manchester?"

"Yes!"

"Jazzie, it'd take us ages to get there! It's about a four hours journey from Corringham to Manchester, and it'd take me about two hours to pick _you_ up"

"Come on, Tom! Don't do it for me, do it for_ them_, they are your friends. _Please_. I know I can convince her. Tom, you have to take me to Manchester"

I heard him sigh.

"Alright, alright!" he sounded pissed, but someone rarely says no to me. People just can't, it's awesome "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Great!" I half-smiled "Thanks so much!"

"I'm not doing for you, Jazz, it's for Dougie's sake" he said.

"Ok, yeah, whatever... Just call me when you're here, don't get out of the car"

"Why not?" he sounded suspicious, Tom knows me well.

"I'm no way in hell telling my mum about this"

"You're just going to take off? Jazzie, no way-"

"You already said you would! Dougie needs you"

"I'm not ever going to pick up the phone again when I see your number, keep that in mind"

"Oh, yes, you will, Tom"

I hung up the phone and ran to my room to change my clothes. I was suddenly nervous and started thinking about what I'd say to her. First of all, I would have to convince her that the reasons she'd gave him when she'd said no to his proposal where stupid and wrong. Then, I'd tell her how awesome my brother was, how right he was for her... Because he was. And, if I had to be honest, Stephanie had been the brightest girlfriend Dougie had introduced us. She wasn't slutty, yet she didn't look boring. She seemed smart and sweet... I could accept her, I could get use to her...

When I want something, I usually _get_ it. This wasn't going to be the exception. That girl's going to say yes to my brother this time.


	22. Lucky Jacket

**Sorry for the delay -again-, I need to have almost perfect grades at school so I can go to study abroad when I'm done here. I'm still always going to come back to write some more anyway, you can bet on that, girls.**

**Enjoy and review. **

**Thanks for all the awesome reviews and you patience.**

**P.S.: my apologies if this chapter is a little messy, I'm not an english native speaker and I had a few problems with the climbing out part.  
**

* * *

Jazz's POV.

My cellphone moved and I grabbed it from the table quickly: '_I'm in the car, hurry up_' Tom's message said.

I took a deep breath, grabbed my favourite jacket and left the room, walking on my tiptoes. My family was having dinner in the dining room, I should have no problem in leaving if I managed to get out by climbing out my bedroom's window. It wasn't too risky, I was only around 10 meters down and the ground under was covered with mum's bushes and flowers. I opened it and the cold winter wind hit my face inmediately. Luckyly, I've tried doing this a couple of times before, you know, just in case it ever came in handy; I've always pictured myself running away with a hot guy from my school for a date. The thing is, I've only tried getting out, to see if I fit through the window, not the part in which I have to fall...

I would have never thought the 'hot guy' would be Tom and I would actually be running to find my _brother's_ girlfriend. Or _ex-girlfriend_?

Anyway...

"She'd better say yes" I mumbled as I slid my feet out the window and sat on the frame, looking down at the bushes covered with snow.. I was a little bit unsure about this now, I've never done this with snow all around me. I hesitated for a moment "I'm wearing my lucky jacket, I'll survive..." I took a deep breath, then carefully and slowly turned around, my body already out the house, holding to the frame firmly with my hands.

Jeez, this was more complicated than I remembered.

"What the hell-" I gasped. Dammit, I should practised the falling part.

I'm still several feet up, my body hanging. I tried to reach the frame of the window below me but I slipped with the snow and I couldn't help screaming as I fell. Thanksfully, and I still think it's because of my jacket!, I fell over the bushes, bounced one over them, then fell to the side, to the cold ground. I stayed like that for a moment, in the ground.

"God..." I gasped again. For a moment I didn't feel a thing, then the pain came all together at once. I would have many bruises by tomorrow morning.

"Jazzie! Jesus Christ, Jazzie!" Tom ran towards me, jumping over the garden's low fence. He knelt down by my side and grabbed my hand on his hands "Are you ok! Can you hear me!"

"I'm fine" I said. And I _was_! I'm alive! I'm never going to doubt my lucky jacket again! "Let's go" I tried to stand up, a bit clumsily, feeling slightly dizzy, and Tom caught my arm for support.

"Are you insane! You need a doctor!" he said.

"I'm fine, seriously" I laughed nervously.

"**JAZZIE!**" I heard my mum's hsyterical voice calling me. I closed my eyes, knowing what was coming; oh, crap, I'm _so_ endlessly screwed. This is the end of my life as I've known it "Jazzie! Are you ok!"

She was running towards me, my whole family following her closely.

I looked up at Tom and he looked at me. I would have ran but I wasn't quite sure I able to right then.

Tom took a step back as soon as my mum's body collapsed against mine as she threw her arms around me. Then she stepped back and stared at me up and down, probably searching from some broken bones.

"Are you ok, Jazzie!" aunt Ivy asked.

"I'm fine" I said. How many times will I have to answer that? It's already making my impatient.

"Did you just fall out the window!" mum asked, still hysterical, shouting instead of talking. Ok, if Dougie leaving didn't give her a heart attack, this would "Are you alright! Daniel, call a doctor!"

"Mum, I'm ok, mum" I said as I grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little bit "No broken bones, no blood, I swear, I'm fine" as far as I know...

"Did you... Jump?" uncle Daniel asked.

"Oh, Jesus!" mum said, her eyes wild with horror "You're suicidal!"

"No, of course I'm not, mum!" I said and rolled my eyes. I've got no time or patience for this!

"What is Tom doing here!" mum asked. He looked awkwardly at her and waved.

"Hi, everyone" he said as he scratched the back of his head, something he usually does when he _doesn't_ know what to do "Merry Christmas?"

"Where the hell were you thinking jumpined out the window!" mum yelled at me "You could have killed yourself!"

"Relax, it's just 10 meters" it was actually kind of fun... I'm not doing it again though.

"_Just_ 10 meters!" she said and started breathing heavily.

"Ok, mum, relax" I said as I grabbed her shoulders again "Breath, ok? Breath..."

"Why the hell would you jump down your window?" aunt Ivy asked. It had to be the first time she ever cursed. Grandma looked at her surprised too.

"I just- Well, I-"

"You're leaving, aren't you!" uncle Daniel accused me.

"Leaving?" mum repeated "Leaving where? You're not going _anyway_!" then she looked at Tom "You're a part of this, aren't you?"

"Well, I-" he scratched the back of his head again.

"I called him, it's not his fault. He's taking me to Manchester and there's nothing you can do about it!" I said, narrowing my eyes, looking as fierce as I ever could. Hey, I don't kick asses but I can still be tough! And this was the perfect time to rebel against my family, to confront them.

"Leaving to Manchester?" mum repeated "For how long? Why? Are you two in a relationship!"

I slapped forehead with my hand. Oh, God... How does she even jump into these kids on conclusions?

"No, mum!" I said "Tom's got a girlfriend!"

"Are you running away with some other boy!" she asked "Are you pregnant!"

"Oh, for God's freaking sake, mum!" I yelled, all patience lost "Shut up for a moment and I'll explain it to you!"

"Watch your mouth, young lady!" grandma warned me.

"Oh, screw my language, grandma" I said. This did it, I'm done "I'm going to Manchester to try to find Stephanie; I'm not pregnant, I don't have a boyfriend and I'll come back as soon as this is all finished"

"Stephanie!" grandma repeated.

"Why would you try to find her?" uncle Daniel said "Not only she's absolutely imperfect for Dougie, but she also rejected him!"

"She was under the most awkward and- and- weird situation ever! You all made her feel _so_ unwelcome- all of us, myself included! And she's got her doubts because she doesn't know Dougie the way we do! He put up with all our crap for a long time, we should have seen this coming"

"You really want him to merry her?" grandma asked.

"Jazzie, she humilliated him" mum said a bit shyly, she's not the type of person who talks crap about the rest, she's not like my uncle.

"And haven't _we_ done the same a _thousand_ time? He's in one of the biggest bands known in England and you _still _make him feel like he failed you! You always remind him how much you wanted him to be a doctor"

"But I still love him anyway, he's my son!"

"Stephanie loves him too, we've all seen it, you can't deny that. So what if she doesn't believe the same things we do? Do you actually think Dougie hasn't have sex yet, grandma! Wake up!" then I turned towards my uncle "And our family it's not so '_pure_', we do have relatives from other parts of England. He wants her, isn't that enough to let her in? He hates us, he hates _all_ of us... He won't forgive us unless he gets her back" I took my mum's hands and spoke softly "Please, mum... I know you want Dougie to come back... Let me go. I'll be safe, I'll be with Tom."

She hesitated, then looked at her brother. Uncle Daniel hesitated too, he seemed confused.

It was just then, when everybody was quiet, that I realized how cold I was.

"Alright, then" she said. I looked at her surprised; wow, that really worked? "You can go, but I want you back in no more than three days"

"You're really letting her go?" grandma asked, surprised too.

"Yes, I am, mother" mum said "Look, I just want my son to come back... And if Jazzie can do that, then I'll let her go."

"You'll let Dougie marry Stephanie?" uncle Daniel said.

"Yes, I will! She may not be all we want her to be, but it's his choice, not _ours_"

Uncle Daniel sighed.

"I guess we could make an exception..." he said, his voice still unsure.

"Great!" I said quickly, not sure this would last for long. I took Tom's hand and started dragging him towards the car, still feeling the pain in my body "Then, well, bye! I'll come back soon!"

"Tom, don't take your eyes off of her!" mum said, kind of wanting to run after us.

"I won't!" he said.

"Run" I whispered to him.

He opened the door for me and I sat down quickly. I closed my eyes and tried not to pay attention to the pain.

The worst part was over, now all I've got to do is find someone I know nothing about. Great!

Tom started the engine and drove away.

"Look, you try to relax and sleep. You fell pretty badly"

"Don't remind me" I said.

"I'll wake you up when we get there"

"Thanks, Tom..."

"I'm doing it for Dougie"

"Sure" I smiled. We all stupid things for him.

Tomorrow's my last chance to get my brother back.


	23. Come

**I'm back. Jeez, I'm terribly sorry about the delay :/ Hope you can forgive me!**

**Thanks for all the support anyway, and for waiting.**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

Jazzie's POV.

When I woke up, it took me a moment to realize where I was. The windows of the car where steamed up and I couldn't see where I was, but I could tell the sun was rising because the light coming through the vapor looked kind of reddish. Tom wasn't by my side, everything was so quiet. I was cold and my whole body hurt.

"Dammit..." I mumbled, in pain. I knew this would happen. At least I was alive! I still can't believe I jumped... I mean, it's not that high, but_ still_...

I scrubbed my jacket against the window **[a/n: first time I ever use that verb, is it correct?]** and saw a huge hotel. I opened the door and closed it inmediately; for God's sake, when did it get that cold?

I turned on the radio and tried to think about something else rather than my frozen feet. I smiled when I heard one of McFLY's song's starting. I missed Dougie.

Tom opened the door quickly, making me jump, and sat on the driver's sit.

"Sorry" he said "I didn't mean to scare you"

"It's alright, I'm just sleepy"

"Was I gone for too long?"

"I dont know, I just woke up" I said.

He gave me a cup of coffee from Starbucks, which was great to get a bit warmer. I started drinking it inmediately, feeling the warm liquid falling down inside my body. It felt so good. I noticed how hungry I was, I hadn't had dinner.

"So... What do we do now?" he asked.

Everything was so quiet, I think I blushed, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Well... I guess we just wait for her to show up" I said.

He raced an eyebrow "Jazzie, this park is _huge_, you will never just _see_ her walk by. _We_ will have to walk around to try to find her."

I sighed "Let's go, then"

"It's seven in the morning, she won't be here" he said.

"She _could_ be!" I said, sounding a bit too desperate for my '_i-dont-give-a-shit-about-anything_' usual mood.

He sighed "It's really cold, Jazzie. It's even still dark outside! Don't you want to go back to sleep for a while?"

I sighed too, impatiently "No!" Truth is, that sounded quite great actually.

I opened the car and tried not to show how cold I was as I stepped out of the car. I looked around, clenched my hands into fists inside my pockets and started to walked towards the park. Jesus Christ, I really didn't think this through, did I? This is_ so_ unlike me, not being selfish is a real pain in the ass, I never thought doing the right thing -or what _seemed_ like the right thing to do- could be so hard or annoying.

The place was seriously huge. It seemed endless. There were tall and big trees everywhere, she could be easily standing behind one of them and I would never just see her there. I could see the lake from where I was standing, park benches sorrounded it. It surely had to be a romantic place, but my mind wasn't focus on that.

After running my fingers through my hair several times, something both Dougie and I do when we're either nervous or just don't know what else to do, I decided I would start by walking all around the park.

Tom joined me, though he didn't seem too happy about it, but he didn't complain either. Lovely Tom doesn't know what complaining is, he doesn't know what he's missing. Seriously, you've got to admit it; complaining is so sweet, we all love doing it.

Well, walking around the park took a while. And when I say a while, I mean around an hour or more, I don't really know, I don't have a watch, but it felt like an eternity. My legs were shacking, but I forced them to go on. Little bit little, a lovely red light covered the top of the trees and it felt so damn good when the sunlight finally reached my face, though I was still freezing.

People started showing up, carrying bags with pretty images on them, all happy, all excited, it was nearly Christmas now. It made me want to punch them or something. It made me jealous.

I met Tom again, who didn't look too happy either, but at least he didn't look annoyed anymore.

"Hey, Rudolph" he said.

"What?" I asked, completely lost. Can your brain freeze?

He rolled his eyes "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer? You're nose's red"

"Oh" I said, my face expressionless "_Hilarious_"

Tom sighed. Yeah, I know, my mood's annoying "Ready to give up? Or at least take a break?"

"If I stop walking, I'll freeze and die" I said.

"You're so dramatic"

"And I love it" I smiled at him and kept walking. It would take me a couple of hours to get to the point in which I wouldn't be able to walk anymore and I would take advantage of that.

I walked all around the freaking place for two hours and I didn't see any sign of Stephanie. Like there _would_ be signs, anyway.

By noon, I was way too tired. I sat in front of the lake, in a bench that was so cold that made my butt tremble. Tom joined me after a while, he was carrying our lunch -which were two sandwiches for each other-. He sat down next to me and started at my exhausted face.

"Say it" I said after a while, still feeling his eyes on me, but I wasn't going to meet them.

"What?" he asked softly.

"Say I've failed. I failed him."

"You haven't failed Dougie. The day's not over yet"

"We don't even know if she'll be here"

"It's Christmas, pray for a miracle"

I rolled my eyes "That's so lame, Tom."

He smiled. "Look, I'll be in the car. My phone's there, I'm going to call some friends, maybe someone knows something about her... You rest for a while, we'll keep looking later"

I nodded and just stared at the lake as I hate.

What if she _didn't_ come?

I had to believe she _was_ coming. Where else would she go on Christmas if she had no one else? She wasn't coming back to her family, for what I'd heard that wasnt' even a possibility. So, if she wasn't spending the night with her friends, her family or Dougie, where else could she be?

She_ had_ to come.


	24. Yes Or No

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

Jazzie's POV.

My feet hurt so much. It was getting colder and colder again as the sun started to disappear behind the trees. I didn't want to show it in front of Tom, but I was desperate. I couldn't stand seeing the rest of the people getting ready for Christmas, it made me sick.

It was fair. It just wasn't fair!

I couldn't stop picturing Dougie, alone, in his house. Was he sad? Of course he was... Was he crying? I hope he wasn't.

I covered my eyes with my hands, as if that could make the images in my head go away.

A few hours ago I had left my comfortable spot in the bench and started walking again. I was tired and I felt dirty. All I wanted was to find Steph, then I'll be able to go home and have a hot shower that would last for hours. My feet were killing me, my shoes hadn't been made for long walks, I knew that now. Tom was looking tired aswell, and very impatient.

"Jazz..." he said, looking uncomfortable "We should leave..."

"Leave?" I said "Why?"

"Well, it's Christmas" he said in a 'isn't-it-obvious?' way "Our families are waiting for us"

"And Dougie's waiting for Stephanie"

"You think I don't know that?" he said "We can't do anything if she doesn't come"

I moved my hands impatiently.

"Give me another two hours?" she said.

"Two hours?" he repeated "My family's in London, that's three or four hours away from here, Jazzie. And you'll have to come with me 'cause I can't leave you alone but I can't take you back home either."

I bit my lip, for the first time in a long time I felt like crying.

"I'm sorry Jazzie" he said, looking even more uncomfortable "One hour, we're leaving in one hour"

I nodded, though I wanted to complain. But Tom didn't deserve it, he'd done enough. I wasn't going to let all my anger and frustation fall over his shoulders.

"I'm sorry I can't give you more time... I hope you find her, Jazz..." he said "I remember Dougie saying they had written their names in a bench, that it'd been kind of cheesy and corny, but that he somehow knew it'd meant something, like they had left a mark... If she doesn't come here, she's coming back at all. You should know that's not your fault"

I wanted Tom to stop, he wasn't making this easier. If she didn't come back to Doug, it _would_ be my fault, in a way at least.

"I'll keep looking" I said, I wanted to get away from him now.

Though I felt like it was actually starting to hurt me, I kept walking, a bit faster this time. I looked all around me, all around the park. People were leaving, it was time to meet each other's family. And I was still stuck here. One hour, I only had one hour to find her. _If_ she came at all. And, if she _did_ come, then I would have to convince her to go back to my brother's arms.

I tried to hurry, to cover as much ground as I possibly could.

Then I stopped. Then I slapped my hand against my forehead.

'_Of course!_' I thought and started running towards the lake again.

I stopped in front of the first bench I saw and examined it carefully, though I could barely see anything.

Stupid winter, stupid sun that comes down early, stupid dark park.

There was nothing written in that bench.

I ran towards the next one, feeling like I would vomit because of how freaking tired I was.

'_Don't think about that, don't think about that..._' I thought.

Nothing, there was nothing in this stupid bench either.

I ran towards the next one, and the next one...

Nothing!

I moved my arms in the air in a crazy way and kicked the ground angrily. I was cold, I was sad, I was frustrated, I was angry, I was tired, I was hungry!

Then I sighed. Feeling sorry about myself it's not my thing.

Then I raised my head, tears of frustration in my eyes.

And there she was. Or at least so I thought. She was several benches away from me, sitting in one of them, staring down at something, alone.

Honestly, for a moment I thought I was seeing things.

I thought about jumping behind a tree and hiding, in case she was me and ran away. I felt stupid as I pictured that in my head. Now I had actually find her, I had no idea what I should do.

I took a deep breath as I thought about things I could say. Then I decided I should just walk towards her and let things flow.

Shacking a little bit because I was cold and extremely nervous -which was weird, I didn't thought I'd get nervous-, I started walking towards her. Stephanie never looked up at me, I was walking silently and carefully so I wouldn't scare her away.

"H-Hi..." I said.

She looked up fastly, confused, and stared at me for a long time before she said something.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she said. I would have normally answer in an agressive way, but she didn't sound angry; she sounded confused and worried. Could she be worried about _me_?

"Well... I asked Tom to bring me here" I said.

"Tom's here?" she looked around "Wait, _why_ are you here?"

She rubbed her hands against her eyes for a moment. Was she crying?

How awkward.

"Do you mind if I sit?" I said, I couldn't help myself "My feet are killing me"

"Yeah, sure..." she said as she looked down again "It's a free country..."

I sat down and a horrible pain spread through my legs. Oh, my freaking God, that would hurt a lot more tomorrow.

I looked down too and I saw it, Dougie's horrible handwriting. '_Doug & Steph_'. I half-smiled. Yeah, cheesy and corny... But sweet. Stephanie was staring at that too.

"Your family must be waiting for you" she said after a long moment of awkward silence. I just didn't know what to say though I'd thought about it a thousand times. None of what I'd thought about sounded strong enough to convince her now.

"Dougie must be waiting for you" I said.

"I know" she said.

"So... Why don't you go back to him?"

"Because this weekend with your family... It showed me I was right, though I never wanted to believe it"

"You were right about what?"

"I'm not right for your brother, I don't belong in his world. I never have, I never _will_. He should be with someone that understand him, his way of life..."

"Dougie's being with girls like that and it didn't work out. Look, my family will get use to you... Eventually... We are... Well, we're complicated... We're kind of... Assholes"

"You're BNP supporters!" she said as she opened her eyes a lot.

"I'm not" I said "I don't even like politics"

"And why did he have to propose? We were fine, we were _perfectly_ fine!" she said, sounding as frustrated as I was.

"Why did you say no? What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"I never thought he wanted that! I mean, he's childish, he rarely commits to big things. This is marriage! I don't know if I'm ready for that, I'm a mess! And Dougie- He's always busy, he's away a lot... And a wedding... It's such a mess to plan a wedding! And I can't afford something like that, and I hate that Dougie has to pay for everything!"

I stood up and she followed me with her eyes, confused.

"Look" I said "I jumped from a window for you"

"What?" she said.

"Yeah. And I walked and ran all around this freaking park all day long trying to find you." This is what happens when I'm this tired "So shut up for a moment, will you?"

She just stared at me, confused.

"Thank God" I said, annoyed "Look, just tell me you're here. Why are you sitting in_ this _park, in _this_ bench?"

"Because it reminds me of happy days"

"Why?" I insisted.

"Because I met Dougie"

"And why does_ that_ make you happy? If my brother's so freaking inmature and- and-, don't know, whatever reasons you said before... Then _why_ does he make you so happy?"

"'Cause I'm in love with him" she said like it was obvious, like I shouldn't even make such a stupid question.

"Then deal with his shit!" I said as raced an eyebrow and started walking around "Oh,_ poor you_, your boyfriend pays for your University, _how terrible_! Oh, poor Stephanie, his boyfriend asked her to marry her _too_ soon!"

I put my hand inside my pocket and grabbed the ring Dougie had left behind in the house, the ring he'd bought for Steph.

"This is yours" I said and gave it to her, kind of threw it to her hands actually. She opened her hands to grab it, surprised by my sudden bad mood. _This _is _me_.

"Why are you giving this to me?"

"Because my brother bought it for you, so you should have it."

"But this in an engagement ring"

"Yes, it is. So stop feeling sorry for yourself and make up your mind. Do you want it or not?"


	25. Songs

**Thanks for the reviews, the support and your good mood :) Means a lot to me ^^**

**And, yeah, everything's fine now, have the usual worries with school, but I'm only one month and a half away from the three months holidays on Summer... I CANT wait! You can bet that's gonna be wild! haha  
**

**Enjoy and review.**

**Songs in the chapter: Slipknot - Snuff / The Hush Sound - That's Ok / Blink 182 - First Date  
**

* * *

**Dougie's POV**

_... I couldn't face a life without your lights, but all of that was ripped apart when you refused to fight..._

I stood up and changed the song. My Ipod was connected to the stereo system of the living-room, it was loud that the neightbours would have complained in a regular day. But this wasn't a regular day, it was Christmas...

How ironic, I'd recieved loads and laods of invitations for different parties and yet here I was, alone.

_... And when you're gone, will they say your name?__ And when you're gone, will they love you the same?__ If not, that's okay..._

I swallowed; Stephanie's favorite band. I forgot I had her music on my Ipod.

I changed songs quickly, feeling like I had something rather big stuck on my throat.

_... Honest, let's make this night last forever. Forever and ever, let's make this last forever..._

"Oh, for God's sake-" I said annoyed. How come _every single_ song reminds me of her? I never thought I wouldn't want to listen to Blink 182, I wouldn't have thought that was possible.

I just turned it off. I didn't need anything to remind me of her, she was already on my mind, all the time. All the _freaking_ time._  
_

The images from that night kept coming to my mind, reminding me of the disaster, the humilliation, the moment she left, the faces of my family members...

Were they waiting for me to magically show up and actually spend the night with them? They were fools if they thought I was coming back.

I _did_ want to though. They _are_ my family, but... How can they be so selfish if they supposely love me? We just have different ideas of what's best for me...

I'm not coming back home, I've made up my mind about that.

It was passed midnight.

I sat on the couch again, this time no music. It was supposed to distract me, not _disturb_ me. Just a few lights were on, not the one in this room. My suitcase was still on the floor, my clothes inside it. The pizza box was lying on the floor next to the couch, as well as a couple of small bottles of the most decent beer I was able to find on Christmas night. God, something smelled bad aswell.

I sobbed loudly.

Oh, jeez, what am I going to do? I suck without her. How the hell did I manage to live on my own without her before? I'm a disaster!

And how foolish I'd been! _Of course_ she'd say no! I'm a _child_! How can I get married like that? How can I take care of her if I can't take care of _myself_? I rubbed my hands against my eyes, I felt so stupid. If only I hadn't proposed! Maybe we would be here, eating something together, making love, who knows! Or we'd be in Corringham, eating mum's delicious Christmas food.

I kicked the floor.

Have you ever wished that you could go back in time and change whatever shit you did that ruined something or made you look extremely stupid so badly that you end up wanting to punch something out of deep frustration? Or is it just me?

She had to come back at some point... I mean, all her stuff is here. Where's she gonna go? Will she stay with some friend? A_ male _friend? Will she still let me pay her studies? I didn't want her to stop just because we weren't together anymore, she was great at what she did... But I knew her well, she wouldn't let me.

Was I able to see her if she came back, and just let her leave? Should I say something? Should I lock her up in my room forever? That sounded like a rather great idea.

I'd been lying here most the day and, to be honest, I was tired of doing nothing and feel pitty about myself, but I was too sad to care aswell. I rest my head against the couch and closed my eyes. I sighed...

The light went on and I turned around alarmed.

I stared at Stephanie, confused. Oh,_ fuck_, how much have I been drinking? It wasn't that much... Was it? Had I fallen asleep?

"Are you really here or should I start worrying?" I said naturally, without even thinking about it.

"What?" she said confused.

"Oh, you _are_ here" I said awkwardly, an uncomfortable warm feeling rising inside my chest.

"Yeah..." she said.

"I didn't touch your things, so... You can take my suitcases if you want. Take your time to get all your need"

I felt like crying again, how ridiculous. Well, I wasn't going to cry in front of her...

... I just didn't think she'd really come to ask me for her things so quickly.

She stared at me for a moment, looking confused again. She opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but then close it. Steph just looked down and nodded. She looked sad. I hated seeing her sad. It was hard to resist the urge to hug her.

I turned around, unable to keep looking at her. She looked so beautiful, though tired. I heard her footsteps as she ran up the stairs and walked toward our room.

This was it, she was leaving.


	26. Ask Again

**Sorry I've been away... Again. I was off playing the national handball tournament in another town by the beach and I injured my arm pretty bad. Don't go to a national handball tournament in Argentina, they're gonna kick your ass, those girls are violent! I must admit I kicked some asses myself haha**

**This is the last chapter. Soon I'll come back with more stories, as usual. Good thing is I'm just ONE month away from my three-months-long summer holidays, so I'll have more free time to write.**

**Anyway, thanks for all the reviews and the support. And waiting!**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

**Steph's POV**

My hand flew to my mouth and I tried not to make any kind of sound as I tried to hold back the tears.

Of course he wouldn't want me back! I turned him down in front of his family, I ran away from him! It'd been so stupid of me to think that he would just let me run back to his arms.

I sobbed.

But I hadn't expected him to be _so_ cold...

I grabbed one of the suitcases from the wardrobe in the hallway, went to our room and started throwing books and clothes inside without even bothering to organize it. I just wanted to get the hell out of there as quickly as I could.

Was it really over there? Wasn't there anything that I could do? After everything Jazzie had done... Tom drove all this way for nothing...

I looked around for a moment; our bed, our pictures in the wall, some of hour clothes still laying in the sofa. Was he going to change it? Would we throw away our pictures, get rid of the clothes I left behind, bring other girls home and sleep with them in the same bed we'd share for so long?

'_Stop_' I told myself. I would have plenty of time to cry later, but I wasn't going to allow him to see me like this.

I grabbed the suitcase, I gave a shit about all the things I was leaving behind. I looked at Dougie as I went down the stairs. He was looking at the exact opposite way, as if he was desperately trying to avoy my eyes. And he surely _was_.

I walked towards the door, feeling unsure. This couldn't be it, but it _was_ the end. What was I going to do? I'm nothing without him, and I don't mean the money, I'm talking about happyness...

I put the suitcase down for a moment, hesitating. I turned around to look at him, desperately trying not to cry. I wanted to look at him for the last time and make sure I remembered his face forever.

"Bye" I said.

He nodded, still without looking at me.

I opened the door and walked away. I saw Tom and Jazzie still waiting in the car, looking at me. I couldn't face them, so I started walking away from them too, though I had no idea where I was going. I was sure they would follow me anyway, though I didn't want them to.

Then I remembered something.

I put down the suitcase again, right there on the front garden of Dougie's house, over the snow that had started falling just a few hours ago. Then I walked towards Dougie's house again and opened the door with my key. He turned around confused again, this time tears in his eyes. He brushed them away with his hand and stared at me for a moment.

"What?" he said, half-choking.

I swallowed; God, it killed me to see him like that.

I walked towards him silently. I put my hand inside my pocket and then put my key of the house in front of him, over the wooden coffee table we'd bought together months ago. Then I took out the engagement ring from my pocket too.

"This is yours" I said in dead voice, trying not to cry.

He grabbed it without saying anything. I waited for him to say at least goodbye, prayed for it in that same moment, I wanted to listen to his voice again, one last time, I wanted to remember it as good as I possibly could... But he didn't say a thing as I walked away.

* * *

**Dougie's POV**

I put my hands over my face and let the tears fall.

So cold, how could she be _so_ cold? That was a side of her I'd never known. How could she just walk away like that?

How could I _let_ her?

I took the keys that layed in the coffee table and threw them to the other side of the room angrily. It hit a photograph, broke its glass and fell to the floor.

I looked down at the ring in my hand. How dare she come back to just give it back to me? I'd bought it for her, she could have at least kept it. What was I going to do with it? I couldn't return it! Why would I want to keep it? I had left it behind in my mother's house for a reason, I didn't wa-

'_Wait a minute_' I thought, I raised my head slowly. My sight was blurry because of the tears, so I rubbed sleeve against my eyes '_I_ did_ leave it there, didn't I? And she left first..._'

I sobbed, confused, and ran my fingers through my head...

Could it be...?

No, she would of said something...

But maybe...

Did she go back to Corringham? Did she want to find me?

I stood up in a blink, stubling a little bit with the bottles of beer and the box of pizza. I fell once, but got on my feet quickly, though I was a bit dizzy. Stupid alcohol. I opened the door and didn't bother to close it.

There she was, just a few meters away. She leaned down to pick up her suitcase and I ran faster.

"Wait!" I shouted. She turned around inmediately. She seemed to examine me for a moment, then I noticed I was only wearing my T-shirt. Given that I had recently fallen into frozen water, it wasn't very smart from me to come out like this, but well...

"What are you-"

"I just want to ask you something" I said before she could either tell me something related to that or just tell me to fuck off.

She nodded confused.

"Did you go back?" I asked her, my heart beating fast against my chest "Did you go back to Corringham?"

"No" she answered quickly.

I just stared at her for a moment "Oh..." I said "Oh, I was just... Wondering where you got the ring" I explained awkwardly. I stepped backwards, feeling bad again.

She must have just grabbed it when I wasn't watching.

I looked at her for the last time and for what seemed forever "Well, bye"

"Jazzie gave it to me" she said quickly, like if she was trying to stop me from leaving.

I raised my had again, confused for two reasons; she wanted me to stay?

And _Jazzie_? Jazzie gave it to her?

"Excuse me?" I said.

"She gave it to me... She jumped off a window or something, and-" she said, looking confused.

I felt like I'd choked "_What!_" I said, my eyes wide opened "My sister jumped _off _a window! Is she alright! Oh, my God!" My hands flew to my head, horrified.

"She's fine, she's fine!" she assured me, moving her hands nervously too "She came to Manchester to find me-"

"_Manchester?_" I said. This is all too weird. Is she saying the truth? Is she on drugs? None of that sounded realistic or like something Jazz would do "Wait, what the hell are you talking about? Are you on drugs?"

"_What?_" she said, narrowing her eyes, sound a bit offended "No, of course not! Your sister came to our park in Manchester to convince me to come after you, she brought the ring with her and gave it to me."

"You went to our park?" I asked. The images of that day came to my head in that same moment. Our park, our bench, our names written on it with my silly handwritting, that day together. I can't believe that's still there. I know Steph used to visit that place when I was away on tour and she couldn't come with me, it made her feel close to me, or so she'd told me. So why was she there? Did she miss me?

And how had _Jazzie_ known she'd be there? I didn't know she'd talked to Stephanie... Why would she go, though? Why would she do something like that, something that didn't bring her any satisfaction, on Christmas?

Stephanie's face was a mix of emotions, but she nodded "Why?" I asked softly.

"I don't really know" she said "I just wanted to be safe..."

"You should have come home if you wanted to be safe. What were you going to do if it started snowing?"

"I don't know" she said calmly.

I sighed and trembled a little bit, already cold.

"Look..." I bit my lip for a moment "I'm sorry, Stephanie... I'm sorry for ruining everything" Though you could have said yes and things would have been easier... "But you don't have to go tonight. Do you even have somewhere to go?"

She looked at me confused for a moment "You're sorry?" she said "No, Dougie... _I_ am sorry. I thought you were angry at me"

"Angry at you?" I swallowed, feeling like crying _again _"How could I ever be angry at _you_?"

Steph half-smiled and it made me want to die inside, die right there right then so that'd be the last thing I'd see.

"You still love me?" she asked.

"Do you still love _me_?" hey, I wasn't going to make a fool of myself again. She'd had to say the words this time.

My sweet ex-girlfriend came closer to me and took my hand with hers. She opened it and took the ring from it. She looked at me shyly.

"Marry me, Dougie" she said.

I just stared down at her.

Was she playing me?

"What?"

"Not tonight, maybe not even next year, but... Marry me. Someday. Stay with me"

I laughed nervously "Are you serious?"

She nodded, kind of holding back nervous laughter too.

I narrowed my eyes, not really trusting in my own judge "This _is_ real, isn't it?"

She rolled her eyes "Jeez, Dougie, how many beers did you have?"

"A couple..."

"Well, I'll ask you tomorrow too then. And the day after that day, and as many times as I have to"

I smiled and put my trembling hands around her waist.

"Oh, my God, Dougie, your breath!" she said, smiling.

"Sorry" I laughed.

Very softly, like in a movie, I leaned down to kiss her...

"Dougie, seriously, your breath..." she said, almost laughing, but without leaning away.

"We have to seal the deal, baby" I said.

"You still haven't said yes"

"Ask me again"

She rolled her eyes again, but this time she didn't mean it. She must have blushed, I know she did. She looked at me in that special way that lets me know she cares... And she asked "Will you marry me, Dougie?"

I smiled "Yes"


End file.
